jSF 487 
|.H75 
,1914 
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COPYRIGHT DEPOSITS 



The Call of the Hen 



-OR — 



The Science of the 



Selection and Breeding of Poultry 

For Egg-Production 



-BY- 



WALTER HOGAN 



Copyrighted, 1913, in tlie United States and Canada, Creat 

Britain, Australia, New Zealand, France, Cerniany, 

and Denmark. 

[All Rights Reserved.] 

Copyrighted, 1914. 



PRICE, - - - $2.00. 



REVISED, PUBLISHED, AND SOLD BY THE 

AMERICAN SCHOOL OF POULTRY HUSBANDRY, 
Mountain Grove, Mo. 



5r4S7 
\9I4- 



DEDICATED 

TO THE POULTRYMEN WHO, 

LIKE THE AUTHOR, 

DO NOT KNOW IT ALL. 



0CT"7!9I'3 
^CI,A379931 



r 



THE CALL OF THE HEN. 




Lady Show You, a W liite riyniouth Rock hen, that holds the world's 
egg record for a two-year-old hen; laid 281 eggs in the National Egg- 
Jaying Contest at the Missouri State Poultry Experiment Station, Moun- 
tain Drove, Mo. She met the Hogan test. 




"-S 



The Missouri State 

Poultry experiment 

Station 

Mountain Grove. 

Mo. 




PRIZE 



t 




I 



MISSOUHI 



T 



LAYmO 
COMTEST 



f 



m./ 



A^ 




MOUKTAtN GROVE 

1911-1912 



Photograplied by request of the Chamber of Commerce, Petaluma, Calif. 
These hens weighed less than 4 pounds each and laid 131 pounds 2 
ounces of eggs. Thej' won the prize for laying the greatest weight in eggs 
in the National Egg-laying Contest. Each hen's eggs would have sold for 
$4.50 on the Petaluma Market, if reduced to No. 1 eggs. They are the 
result of five years' breeding by the author from common Petaluma Single 
Comb White Leghorns. It is possible for tlie reader to do tlie same with 
almost any breed by following instructions in this book. 



PREFACE 



This is an age which demands action, appUed thought, and 
a practical, actual, and workable science. The world is de- 
manding to know, not "What are you?" or "What do you 
look like?" but "What can you do? " Drones are being culled 
out in all lines of Imsiness activity, and rightly so; and the same 
is true with the poultry business. The hen which delivers the 
goods is the hen which is in demand. "The hen that lays is 
the hen that pays." 

We have two reasons for publishing The Call of the Hen. 
Some three years ago Mr. Hogan sent us three males, all Single 
Coml) White Leghorns; one was of his 280-egg type, selected 
according to this system, another was of the 250-egg type, 
and the third was of a 70- or 80-egg type. He also sent us two 
pens of hens of his own selection and breeding.. We trajmested 
all the hens, and l)red from all three males. The results in every 
case have borne out Mr. Hogan's claims and the truthfulness 
of his methods of selection and breeding. We have also tested 
the hens in the egg-laying contests; taken measurements and 
made tests and judged their capacity for laying as per this 
system, The Call of the Hen. The results so nearly tally 
with the system in practically every case that we feel that this 
is a valuable method of selection and breeding, which should 
be in the hands of everyone who attempts to raise poultry. 

Capacity, condition, type, and vigor must all be taken into 
consideration in determining whether a hen will l)c a good 
producer or a poor producer. By making a careful and sensible 
application of the rules made known in this book, it is possible 
for any poultry-raiser to avoid great loss. 

We are told, and have good reason to believe that it is true, 
that the average farm lien lays less than 80 eggs per year. If 
that be true, about half the poultry is being kept at a lass to 
the OAMier. If this is the condition, are we not justified in 
doing something to attract the attention of the farmers and 
poultry-raisers to methods and practices which will lead to the 
production of more eggs from the average hen, and to the 
necessity of culling and selection, and to more careful and 
painstaking methods? 



6 THE CALL OF THE HEN. 

The object of The Call of the Hen is to stimulate an in- 
terest in increased egg-production in all varieties of poultry 
and to encourage the breeding of strains of high-producers. 
We have come to the point where our efforts to breed fowls 
with perfect plumage for show purposes has overshadowed 
that of the ability of our hens to lay; and it can certainly 
result in no harm to call the attention of the breeders of the 
nation to the good which would certainly come from a study 
of the things which would tend to increase egg-production. 
We should all be vitally concerned in any attempt to better 
conditions, to increase the i)roductivcness of the hen, and to 
give impetus to an industry which is already one of our greatest 
agricultural factors. 

For half a century the fanciers and poultrymen generally 
have devoted their attention to the show-room in the de- 
velopment of shape and color. No opportunity has been 
offered or anything specially done to encourage the farmer and 
poultryman to develop the natural resources of the hen — her 
ability to lay eggs. A few of our best experiment stations 
have made some investigations along this line and done some 
very valuable work indeed. Here and there an occasional 
poultry-breeder has given some thought and attention to 
breeding for egg-production; but certainly, as a whole, the 
attention of breeders generally has not been along this line, 
and it seems that this important matter has been too much 
neglected. 

Haphazard methods of mating and breeding don't pay, and 
indiscriminate methods cannot prove successful in building 
up a flock of laying hens. There never was a time in the history 
of tliis country when poultry and eggs were in greater demand ; 
the price at which poultry and eggs sell has increased much 
more in proportion than has the price of feeds necessary to 
produce these products; but because the industry is flour- 
ishing to-day more than ever before does not justify us in con- 
tinuing indiscriminate or foolhardy methods. The opportunity 
is ours to insure greater profits, if we will but carefully and 
systematically solve the problem which is facing us: "How 
can we insure a reasonably high average egg-production?" 

The interests of the fancier are served through the show- 
room. If a breeder enters birds in a show-room and is beaten, 
he tries to improve his flock and perfect it by introducing new 
blood or by improved methods of breeding and careful se- 



THE CALL OF THE HEN. 7 

lection. If he wins, he tries to keep his stock in that high 
state of perfection. It is just as important, and even more so, 
that he know just what his flock can do in the matter of pro- 
duction, and he ought to use the same care in trying to perfect 
his strain of la3'ers. 

There are exceptions to all rules. You will find some ex- 
ceptions in selecting, testing, and l)reeding your poultry ac- 
cording to the method described in The Call of the Hen; 
but many breeders have tested it for some six or eight years; 
many of these have doubled their egg-yield in this time. We 
feel certain that Mr. Hogan's method of selection and breeding 
will prove him to be to the poultry industry what Burbank is 
to horticulture, Edison is to the electrical world, or Darwin or 
Mendel to the breeding kingdom. That the mastery of this 
method of selection antl breeding, and sensibly applying the 
principles revealed herein, will mean much to the poultry 
industry, is our honest belief. 

American School of Poultry Husbandry. 
Mountain Grove, Mo. 



FOREWORD 



The writer's introduction into poultry-keeping was in tiie 
city of Boston, Massachusetts, in the autumn of 1857. By the 
the spring of 'G8 I had a flock of nearly 400 birds, among them 
a lot of the best Single Comb White Leghorns that I could 
find. I went in person to New York city to get them. My 
friends thought such extensive poultry-keeping the limit of 
folly, and freely remarked that I was going crazy. In those 
days eggs were almost worthless during the spring and summer 
months, but would often sell for fifty cents per dozen in the 
winter. This set me to thinking that perhaps it might l)e 
possible to increase the egg-yield in the winter and by so 
doing make the fad a better paying proposition. Through 
my experiments I found that all hens were not alike; that 
some would be very good table fowl and poor layers, others 
would be very good layers and poor table fowl, while still other 
hens would be very fair table fowl and very fair layers. At this 
time we had all the old-fashioned breeds we could get, and 
discarded them all for the Single Comb White and Brown 
Leghorns. I had decided that knowledge was of commercial 
value only when applied, and having a working knowledge of 
the anatomy and physiology of the hen, I decided to try to 
turn the same to a commercial account, and in a couple of 
years had evolved what is now known as the "Walter Hogan 
System," which consists in ascertaining the value of a hen for 
the purpose you desire by the relative thickness of and dis- 
tance apart of the pelvic bones. Before 1873 I had communi- 
cated this discovery to some of my friends under promise of 
secrecy. One of them, Albert Brown, once a well - known 
banker, of Amesbury, Massachusetts, and O. H. Farrar, of the 
same place, an overseer in the Hamilton Mills, and a light 
Brahma specialist. After using the above so-called "system" 
for a number of years, I developed a new method, which I have 
taught in part privately for some years, and which I now in- 
troctuce to the public under the title of "The Call of the Hen; 
QT, The Science of Selecting and Breeding Poultry," 



THE CALL OP THE HEN. 9 

My friends early prophesied that[jmy penchant for inven- 
tion would land mc in the poor-house in my old age. So by 
some occult inspiration I was induced to abstain from pub- 
lishing any part of my discoveries until 1904, when, by the ad- 
vice of Ex-Congressman Haldor E. Boen, of Minnesota, to 
whom I had confitled my poultry secrets some years previous, I 
decided to publish only my first discovery, known as the 
"Walter Hogan System" (which will be found in the latter part 
of this work), after the same had been tested at the Minnesota 
State Experimental Station by Professor Hoverstadt, the super- 
intendent of the station. However, l)efore taking any steps to 
bring this matter before the public, I wrote to some thirty 
or more poultry judges, who were supposed to l)e selected as 
judges to officiate at the coming poultry show to be held in 
Buffalo during the exhibition at that place in 1901, asking 
them if they knew of any way to tell when a pullet was about 
to lay. I thought that if the}^ did not know that much of the 
laying proposition, I would be safe in going ahead with pub- 
lishing my secrets. The letters I received were left in Minne- 
sota when I came to California shortly before the earthquake 
in 190(3, so I cannot name the judges at present, but they will 
remember me as the proprietor of the Fergus Falls Woolen 
Mills; and I must say they replied in a very courteous manner, 
saying there was no way except the general appearance of the 
bird, as to its maturity of form, redness of comb and wattles, 
singing, looking for nest, etc. One only of the number charged 
me one dollar for this information. 

Failing health obliged me to dispose of my manufacturing 
business and retire to the farm, and it was in the spring of 
1905 before I published my "Walter Hogan System," when it 
appeared in a number of poultry papers. (See Reliable Poultry 
Journal, March, 1905.) I did not copyright the work at that 
time, although my experience in mechanical inventions had 
taught me that I should have done so, and the following August 
imitations began to appear, until in 1912 a number of different 
parties in the United States and foreign countries were claiming 
authorship and selling it under the same or different titles, 

My years of research and expense brought me no financial 
returns, and in the spring of 1906 I left Minnesota for Cali- 
fornia, a physical and financial wreck. After having regained 
my health, I began here at Petaluma to build up the same 
kind of a flock of layers that I had done in previous years, with 



lO THE CALL OF THE HEN. 

the idea of publishing my entire work when I should have bred 
up a strain of 200-egg hens and better. 

After I removed to CaUfornia, Professor M. E. Jaffa, of 
the University of Cahfornia, became interested in the matter, 
and, at the request of the Petaluma Poultry Association, had 
the discovery tested at the California Poultry Experimental 
Station for two years, and continued for two years longer for 
the purpose of determining the value of four-year-old hens 
as layers, as it is outlined in this book in the chapter relating 
to the selection of the best layers in a flock. 

It was also tested in New Zealand by D. D. Hyde, chief 
poultry expert for the New Zealand Government, and Prof. 
Brown, of the New Zealand Poultry Experiment Station. I 
have repeatedly been requested by my friends in different 
parts of the world to publish the full matter in book form, 
but poor health and lack of sufficient funds have prevented me 
from doing so until now. As this work will be copyrighted, I 
do not anticipate the literary pirates will raid it as they have 
my former work. In justice to the poultry fraternity, I want 
to say that while I have been and am now a member of the 
American Poultry Association, and have raised poultry fifty-six 
years, and now raise them by the thousand, I have never in the 
past classed myself as a "poultryman" in the strict sense of 
the word. Neither do I claim that I am the only one who has 
discovered the facts set forth in this book. I only know that 
I have never seen them in print before. I know what the re- 
sults of following this method have been with me, and I feel 
safe in assuming that the things I have discovered have not 
been known. Hundreds have known me as an inventor and 
woolen manufacturer where one would know me as a "poultry 
crank"; and the only apology I have for offering this book to 
the public in a field already crowded with poultry literature is 

the earnest solicitation of my friends. 

Walter Hogan. 
Petaluma, Cal, July 7, 1912. 



The Call of the Hen; or, The Science 
of the Selection and Breeding of Poultry 



By WALTER HOGAN. 



CHAPTER I. 



The Underlying Principles Which Govern the Selection 

AND Breeding of Poultry Are Capacity, Condition, 

Type, Constitutional Vigor, And Prepotency. 

In the winter of 1910 I received a letter from a woman in 
Oregon, which read as follows: 

"Dear Sir, — My husband is a machinist. He is getting 
old and his health is failing. We have both worked hard all 
our lives, and have saved enough to buy a small place in the 
country. We can no longer do hard work, and in looking for 
some light occupation that would bring weekly returns, we 
have looked favorably on the poultry business. We have 
kept a small flock of hens on a town lot for a number of years, 
and think we have done well with them. We also take four 
poultry papers, but each one tells a different story, and we 
cannot decide what to do. We have been years accumulating 
our little savings, and if we should lose them, we would have 
no resources left for our old age. I enclose two articles from 
the September (1910) number of the Pacific Fanciers^ Monthly. 
One article gives me to understand that it is almost hopeless 
to think of making a living with hens, if we depend on selling 
eggs and poultry on the market. The other article holds out 
the promise of a possible income of a thousand dollars per year 
from 300 hens, if handled under right conditions. One means 
utter failure and bankruptcy in market eggs and poultry, and 
the other means the fullest measure of success. Both of these 
articles are in the same number and one follows the other on 
the same page. How can you reconcile these two conflicting 
opinions?" 

(The articles follow.) 



12 THE CALL OF THE HEN. 

"A Common Question Wisely Answered. 
"By George Scott. 

" Can a living be made from poultry? Probably there is no 
one who has attained distinction in the avicultural arena to 
whom this question has not been put hundreds of times; and it 
is a question of perennial interest to the poultry -keeping public. 
There are many people who will tell you that a living, and a 
good living, can be made from poultry-keeping alone, and as 
proof of their statement will point out the numerous men 
whose names are household words in the fancy. On the other 
hand, a vast majority will most emphatically give utterance to 
statements calculated to deter any poultrj^-keeping aspirant, 
and give weight to their contention by citing hundreds of 
cases where men have tried and failed. Truly the mass of 
evidence appears to be with the latter belief, for it is an indu- 
bitable fact that for every person who succeeds in this business 
a hundred fail. But, looking at the matter from a logical 
point of view, the fact that a minority rely on poultry for their 
daily bread is ample evidence that it is quite possible to make 
a living out of poultry-keeping, and the abnormal number of 
failures merely proves that the business is a difficult one, 

"The fact that a man who has failed in some other business 
takes up poultry-keeping with a like result in no sense proves 
that poultry -keeping does not pay; it is only what could be 
expected, and any experienced aviculturist would have prophe- 
sied such a result. It is, however, useless to explain such things 
to the man who is contemplating starting a poultry farm. To 
suggest that he is unfit for the task would be taken by him 
as an insult, for the public, in its ignorance, has conceived the 
idea that poultry-management is the simplest work that any- 
one can think of — in fact, I question whether an outsider 
considers it to be work at all. 

"Such a hold has this belief obtained on the man in the street 
that it almost amounts to a superstition, and until the fallacy 
is exploded the number of the unsuccessful will be constantly 
increased. The public, apparently, cannot understand the 
difference between keeping a few fowls as a paying hobby and 
managing a poultry farm as an enormous one, and that the 
minor difficulties to be met with in the former case are increased 
a thousand fold in the latter. 



TtiE CALL OF TIlE HEN. 13 

"Probably there is no other business which calls for so many 
qualifications as that of the poultry-farmer, and to say that 
the man who has been successful in any other walk in life is to- 
tally unfitted for this business, though somewhat exaggerated, 
will give the tyro some idea of what is wanted. An intimate de- 
tailed knowledge of poultry-management, an unlimited reserve 
of perseverance, determination, and resource, a genuine love 
for fowls, the capacity for hard, continuous work for seven 
days a week, combined with business knowledge and thrifty 
management, are all essential, and will, with ordinary luck, 
lead one to the desired goal. 

" I am very dubious as to whether a living can be made from 
utility poultry-keeping, pure and simple — that is to say, by 
selling eggs and birds solely for edible purposes. A profit can 
undoubtedly be made, but it is so infinitesimal that the income 
derived from this source alone would, I am afraid, scarcely 
suffice for the needs of the most parsimonious. If it is decided 
to specialize in utility points, pure-bred stock must be kept of 
the popular varieties, and eggs for hatching, day-old chicks, 
and stock birds must be sold. This will make all the differ- 
ence, and once a connection has been worked up, there is no 
reason why the business should not pay, and pay well. 

"The breeding of exhibition birds is, without doubt, the 
most profitable branch, and when once a name has been made, 
stock and eggs can be disposed of at most remunerative prices. 
Success, however, cannot be attained at once; it is often the 
work of years ; and many breeders never rise from the ranks of 
mediocrity. Moreover, much capital is required to start an ex- 
hibition poultry farm, and one's expenses incurred in the man- 
agement are infinitely heavier than is the case where utility 
points are the only consideration. 

"I would not advise anyone unversed in poultry-culture to 
give up a situation, however poor, in order to go in for poultry- 
keeping as a means of earning a livelihood. To think of such a 
thing is foolish in the extreme, but for anyone to burn one's 
boats behind one in this way would be suicidal. What I would 
suggest to poultry-keeping aspirants (and I believe the number 
of these reaches well into four figures) is that they should keep 
as many fowls as they can attend to properly in their spare 
hours, and see what profits they can make from the birds. 
Above all, they must find out if they have a genuine love for 
the work, for without this nothing can be done. When a 



14 THE CALL OF THE HEN. 

name has been made as a breeder of good stock, then, and then 
only, is it time for the amateur to consider the advisability of 
adopting poultry-keeping as a business; and long before this 
point is reached the glamor of the idea may have faded, for 
the life of a poultry-keeper is, contrary to popular belief, far 
from being a bed of roses. Practically all the men who are 
to-day making a living from poultry commenced keeping fowls 
as a hobby, and the knowledge and experience which they 
gained in this way enabled them to found the establishments 
which are to-day of world-wide reputation. 

"To those who are qualified for the work poultry -keeping 
offers a good livuig; but to the idle, the thriftless or the pleasure- 
seekers of this holiday-making age it offers more desolate pros- 
pects than any other trade or profession. In this business 
nothing but dogged determination will enable the beginner to 
climb the rugged, precipitous path to success, and anyone who 
is lacking in this essential, or who is afraid of hard, continuous 
work, will save himself the obloquy of failure by choosing some 
other field in which to exercise his powers." 



"The Good Little Hen. 

"What She Will Do for You if You Will Treat Her Right. 

"By Mrs. A. Basley. 

"There is money in poultry for the man and especially for 
the woman that will dig it out. This I can assure the Fanciers^ 
Monthly readers, if they are in doubt. 

" 'Dig it out' seems a curious way of putting it. When I 
spent a summer in a big mining camp in Colorado, I noticed a 
great many holes in the sides of the mountains. 'Yes,' said a 
miner, 'and not 5 per cent of those holes have paid.' It was 
appalling to think of the thousands of dollars lost in those holes. 
'Give me a hundred hens,' said I. The money it took to dig 
one of those unprofitable holes would have started a fine poultry 
plant and the good little hens would have brought in a living 
for their owners. 

"There is money in poultry! Every inch of a hen is 
valuable. I would like to give you one of the values in the hen 
and what it costs to keep her. ''^' 



THE CALL OF THE HEN. 1 5 

"First, there are the eggs she will lay, if properly fed and 
treated. Twelve dozen eggs per year is the average, although 
I personally know poultry plants now being operated in South- 
ern California where the output, as shown by carefully kept 
records, is sixteen dozen per year. The average price at the 
Arlington Egg Ranch for the past year was 31 cents a dozen, 
because the proprietor arranged to have his hens laying when 
eggs cost the most, in the fall and winter months. 

"Sixteen dozen eggs at 31 cents a dozen means each hen 
brings in $4.9G in eggs, whilst her food cost 10 cents per month 
or .f 1.00 per year, leaving $3.76 as i)rofit for eggs. 

"There is still another source of profit in the hen, and that 
is in the droppings. At several of the experiment stations it 
has been found that a hen voids about 100 pounds of droi)pings 
per year. These droppings have been analyzed and show a 
value as fertilizer of from 30 to 35 cents per hen; the value 
being controlled not only by the market demand, l)ut also by 
the quality; the droppings being richer as fertilizer where the 
food was rich in protein and where the hens are fed the 'full 
and plenty' method. 

" 'What do you do with the hen droppings?' I asked a be- 
ginner. 'Throw them away; glad to get rid of them,' was the 
reply. At the rate of SIO.OO per ton, that was a waste of 50 
cents per hen. Two of our neighbors had lawns which were in 
so bad a condition from the soil being worn out that they were 
on the point of having them dug out and new soil put in and 
the whole re-sowed, when they thought of their hen dro])pings; 
these they had spread over the lawns and then raked off again 
and the lawns well watered. In a month's time those lawns 
looked beautiful — better far than if they had been re-made, 
and at far less cost. 

"When I lived in the Eastern States, my window garden 
was the envy and admiration of everyone that passed; there 
were flowers galore all through the dark winter gloom and cold 
frosty days. I loved my plants, took good care of them in 
every way, but the secret of the wonderful blossoms was 
hen manure! 

"Once a month I half-filled a bucket with hen droppings, 
poured a kettleful of boiling water on it, filling the Imcketwith 
the water, stirred it with a stick, let it settle and cool, and 
watered the plants with that liquid. I found that hen drop- 
pings enrich the ground for almost all plants better than any- 



1 6 THE CALL OF THE HEN. 

thing; roses are the only exception that I have found, they 
doing much better when fertilized with well-rotted cow manure, 

"But to return to our hen. She gives 30 pounds' weight 
of eggs, or sixteen dozen, valued at $4.96; she also gives 100 
pounds of valuable fertilizer, worth here i$10 a ton, or 50 cents 
per hen, which brings the amount of her earnings to $5.40, and 
at the end of the year we still have the hen to eat or sell at 
market value, about 75 cents or $1.00. If we eat her, we have 
the feathei's, which are easily saved and can be sold or made 
into pillows, the bones pounded up and fed to the other fowls. 

"Poultry pays, and pays better than any other legitimate 
business, considering the amount invested. Why then are there 
any failures? I will tell you why: The failures are not the 
fault of the good little hen. She will always do her duty; she 
will always respond to the treatment she gets. The failures 
are the people who care for the hen. The owners are the 
failures, and not the fowls. 

"Success is what we all want to attain in whatever we un- 
dertake; and, 'lest we forget' some of the things which lead to 
success, may I repeat that there are three essentials to egg- 
production? These are: Comfort, Exercise, and Proper Food. 
I would like to review these." 



I wrote the lady that both of these articles were right. 
Let us see if we can prove the statement. If the reader has 
ever had any experience with cattle, he knows it would be 
sheer folly to buy a herd of Polled Angus or Herefords for a 
dairy farm, for they have been bred for years for beef, and prac- 
tically everything fed to them goes to meat; while it would 
be just as foolish to buy a herd of Jersey cows and expect to 
make a living from them raising l^eef , as they have been bred 
for years for l)utter-fat, and practically everything fed to them 
goes to milk and cream. If the reader's experience has been 
with horses, he is aware that a man engaged in teaming would 
not select the trotting type of horse, neither would a turfman 
put his money on an 1800-pound Clyde horse, if the balance 
of the field were trotting horses; that would not be horse sense. 
Now, the same comparison holds good in the poultry field, 
except with this difference, that the egg type and meat type 
in poultry have never been segregated into different breeds, 



THE CALL OF THE HEN. l^ 

and each breed bred for a number of years along the Une it 
was intended for — the egg type bred for eggs alone, and all 
birds inclined to meat-production discarded — both male and 
female, and the meat type bred for meat, without regard to 
eggs, except enough to perpetuate the species, just as the 
typical butter cattle and typical beef cattle have been bred. 

I have seen a great many cases like the first-mentioned 
article, where a person would go into the poultry business 
and get started with stock that was of the meat tyi)e, and, 
not knowing any better, would think that all poultry was the 
same as his, and the ordy way any money could be made in 
the l)usiness was to sell fancy birds and eggs at fancy prices. 
Now, these people are not to blame for what they do not know. 
They think their hens are as good layers as any other hens, 
and they have no way of knowing any better. 

I have also seen a great many cas(\s like Mrs. Baslcy writes 
of, except the profits were not so large, owing to different en- 
vironment, I suppose. These people had the same breed of 
hens as the parties before mentioned, but they were fortunate 
in getting the egg type, and they made money with their hens. 
Everyone thinks every other person's hens are the same as 
theirs, if they are of the same l)reed, and that is tiie reason 
there are so many different conflicting statements in the 
poultr}^ papers, and not because the writers are not intelligent 
or not truthful, as some supposs. From a scientific ])oint ot 
view, antl apart from the fancy, and as far as the knowledge of 
meat- and egg-production is concerned, the poultry business 
is in its infancy, and the people who write for the poultry papers 
give their experience for 3'our benefit. That is all. 

To further impress on your mind the difference between 
poultry and other stock, I would say that while some individual 
cattle of the various beef breeds will not l^e a paying propo- 
sition, the only safe plan is to select your feeders from the beef 
family; and while some Jersey cows will not pay as Ijutter- 
produccrs, still, as a breed, they are among the b&st for that 
purpose. Though some trotting horses do not make good, as a 
rule they will carry you over the road in good time, and though 
some draft-type teams are not sure pullers, they are a success 
as a class. 

The same general laws apply to all animal nature. The 
hen is no exception, only in this respect: that while cattle 
and horses have been bred so that as a rule novices can select 



1 8 THE CALL OF THE HEN. 

the type they wish by selecting the breed, hens have not been 
bred that way. We have what purport to be egg breeds and 
dual-purpose breeds. The first are supposed to be a paying 
proposition as a whole for egg-production. The latter are 
supposed to be a pajdng proposition for both eggs and meat 
combined; some breeders claiming that their breed will give 
you the very largest number of eggs per year and the greatest 
weight of flesh all in one bird. Now, these claims are mis- 
leading. It is an utter physical impossibility for any hen to 
be a typical egg type and at the same time be a typical meat 
type. It is against the laws of Nature. We have the Leg- 
horns, Minorcas, Spanish, and a number of other Mediter- 
ranean breeds that are called "egg type." While the truth is, 
that while they have been bred as best the breeders knew 
how along the lines of egg-production, you can find vast num- 
bers that will not lay eggs enough to pay for the feed thc}^ 
eat. Great numbers in some flocks have all the character- 
istics of the beef type, and will lay about three or four dozen 
eggs per year and sometimes not over a dozen. The Plymouth 
Rocks, Orpingtons, Wyandottes, antl Langshans are classed as 
"dual-purpose" breeds, which means hens that will lay a 
medium number of eggs antl give a good large carcass for the 
table; and while this is true in a majority of cases, I have seen 
numerous specimens that laid over two hundred and fifty eggs 
per year, while some would lay little or nothing. In fact, while 
I have bred Leghorns for more than forty years, and they are 
my favorite breed, I must say I have found as good layers 
(within a few eggs) in all the other breeds I have named as I 
have found in the Leghorns, and I have also found as poor 
layers among the Leghorns as I have found in any other breed. 
As far as the number of eggs is concerned, as a rule, I find that 
the breed of the hen has nothing to do with it whatever. 

I do not wish to be considered dogmatic in anything I may 
say in this work. I am merely giving the opinions I have 
formed by observation and experiment during a period of 
fifty-six years that I have kept poultry, not to make all the 
money I coukl out of them, but to learn all I possibly could 
about them — in fact, until a few years ago I never kept poultry 
for the money there was in it. The keeping of hens has been a 
passion with me. I have spent years of time and thousands of 
dollars, but I think I have found something that will be of in- 
estimable value to the world, and I have found it not because I 



THE CALL OF THE HEN. 19 

was any better fitted for the work than thousands of other 
lovers of poultry, but because I stuck everlastingly to it, 
without any regard as to whether it paid me in dollars or not. 

As previously stated, it is not a matter of breed as to 
whether a hen is a good layer or not. It is a matter of type, 
capacity, and constitutional vigor. First, in almost all breeds 
there is a type of hen where everything she consumes over 
bodily maintenance goes to the production of eggs. This we 
call the "typical egg type." Second, there is a type where 
about half the food consumed over maintenance goes to the 
production of eggs, the balance over bodily maintenance going 
to make flesh. This is called the "dual-purpose type," as 
this hen performs two functions that are considered necessary 
in the economy of Nature: the production of eggs and the 
production of meat on a commercial scale. Third, there is a 
type where everything consumed over bodily maintenance 
goes to flesh. This hen we call the "meat type," for the reason 
that practically all her energy is used in producing meat. 

Now, here we have three distinct types of fowl in ahnost 
every breed. We have divided these three types into six 
separate classes for each type: 

No. 1 of the typical egg type hen may lay about 36 eggs; 

No. 2 may lay about 96 eggs; 

No. 3 may lay about 180 eggs; 

No. 4 may lay about 220 eggs; 

No. 5 may lay about 250 eggs; 

No. 6 may lay about 280 eggs. 

All this is in their first laying year. 

No. 1 of the dual-purpose type hen, may lay al;)out 20 eggs; 
No. 2 may lay about 50 eggs; 
No. 3 may lay about 96 eggs; 
No. 4 may lay about 115 eggs; 
No. 5 may lay about 130 eggs; 
No. 6 may lay about 145 eggs. 
This in their first laying year. 

No. 1 of the typical meat type may lay from nothing to 
a dozen eggs. Nos. 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 may lay from nothing to a 
couple of dozen egss, and, as a rule, will lay these in the spring 
when the crows lay. The reason is very plain, if we stop to 
think that the same natural laws govern all animal (and 
human) nature. 



20 THE CALL OF THE HEN. 

The egg type hen is of a nervous temperament (that is 
why she is usually free from body lice, if she has a suitable 
place to dust in), and all she eats over bodily maintenance 
goes to the production of eggs. The hen of the sanguine 
temperament is a little more beefy, and lays less eggs; the 
hen of the bilious temperament is more beefy still, and lays 
still less eggs, while the hen of the lymphatic temperament 
will lay little or nothing, almost everything she eats going to 
flesh and fat. (The reader need borrow no trou]:»le over the 
meaning of the terms "nervous," "sanguine," "bilious," and 
"lymphatic" temperaments, if he is not familiar with them, as 
the charts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 will specify matters so that anyone 
can understand the matter of selecting the different grades of 
hens with very little study and trouble.) 

We have said that we have divided the three grades, the 
egg type, dual-purpose type, and meat type, into six separate 
classes. There is, in fact, a seventh class, but it is so rare that 
we will not take it into consideration here, but will explain 
it later. But we have, in fact, made ninety classes of these six 
for convenience in selection, and the process could be extended 
indefinitely, but it would serve no needful purpose. 

Now, when we consider all these different grades in the 
hens of every breed, and the further fact that there is the same 
number of different grades in the male bird, is it any wonder 
that there is so much difference of opinion in regard to the 
profits derived from poultry-keeping? We have visited hun- 
dreds of poultry plants that numbered from about fifty to 
two thousand or more hens each. We have seen some flocks 
of five hundred that would not pay for the feed they consumed, 
for the simple reason that they were not the right type of 
hens. They were fine-looking, healthy meat-producers, but 
there was no earthly way possible to feed them that would 
induce them to lay eggs at any time except a few months in 
the spring when the crows laid, and eggs were cheap. The 
owners of some of these flocks were bright, brainy, vigorous 
business men, who tried every method that usage and science 
suggested, and fought with sheer desperation to make a suc- 
cess of the business, but went down in failure; while their next 
neighbor, a little pin-headed, conceited specimen of hvmianity, 
strutting around like a peacock, was getting rich with the same 
breed of hens. "Luck," do you say? Yes, it is mostly a 
matter of chance. The first man was unfortunate in that he 



THE CALL OF THE HEN. 21 

got his eggs or breeding-pens from stock such as that described 
in the first article of the Fanciers' Monthly, wliile the last 
man got his eggs or breeding-pens from stock described by Mrs. 
Basley in the second article. 

We once visited a gentleman who had a very extensive 
poultry plant. He had a large number of different breeds 
yarded off in finely appointed yards, with help and financial 
means to satisfy every need of a poultry plant. His pens of 
Rocks, Orpingtons, and Langshans were remarkable layers, 
while his Cochins, Houdans, and Polish were very good layers. 
After looking over the last-named birds, he remarked: "I 
have 500 Leghorn hens that are eighteen months old which I 
wish you would look at." After we had looked at them a few 
minutes, he said, "What do you think of them as layers?" I 
replied that if he would tell me which pen laid an average of 
all the pens, I would tell him in a few minutes. "That pen 
there," said he, pointing to No. 20, has laid an average number 
of all the eggs laid. I looked it up only last night." After 
examining the hens, I told him I would not take them as a 
gift, if 1 had to keep them one year. " Why? " he asked. " Be- 
cause," I replied, "after keeping them a year and selling them, 
the i^rice I would receive for the hens and the eggs they would 
lay would not pay for their feed. I cannot see why you keep 
them." The next evening he said to me, "Do you see that 
man moving into the place over yonder? Well, I have sold 
those Leghorn hens to that newcomer for $500." "Is this 
an exceptional case?" you ask. I have only this to saj^: that 
all the David Harums are not in the horse business, neither 
can I see why a poultryman sliould be his brother's keeper, 
when it is not the rule in other lines of business. It seems to 
me the better way is, to study poultry from a scientific point 
of view, so that you can judge the value of a hen for the purpose 
you want her for, and not have to depend on other people's 
opinions. 

B}^ studying this book carefully j^ou will be able to tell 
approximately the number of eggs a hen is capable of la3'ing 
in a year; you can also select the hens that will be the best 
for breeding purposes, for eggs, for meat, or as a dual-purpose 
hen — that is, a hen that will give you the largest number of 
• eggs possible with the largest possible amount of meat when 
you wish to sell her, or the hen that will produce the best 
broilers, regardless of any one particular breed. Some hens 



22 THE CALL OF THE HEN. 

will be very good layers, some very good meat-producers, some 
verj^ good dual-purpose type, and some very fine fancy birds, 
and you can mate them with the same type of male bird and 
breed from these birds for a few generations, and their progeny 
will degenerate. The chickens from the hens and cockerels or 
cock birds of the 200-egg type may lay less each generation, 
until in eight or ten generations they may not lay enough to 
pay for their feed. The progeny from some of the best meat 
and dual-purpose type matings will sometimes degenerate just 
as the egg type, until they are practically worthless as profitable 
meat-producers. The chicks from the fancy mating may be a 
failure from the fancier's point of view. 

This is the rock that some old poultry-breeders are some- 
times wrecked upon. One case of national interest was the case 
of the late lamented Professor Gowell, of the State of Maine 
Experiment Station. He had started some years before to 
breed up a heavy-laying strain by using the trap-nest, selecting 
eggs for hatching from hens that were his best layers and 
conformed as near as possible to the standard, and using cock- 
erels hatched from these eggs to mate with. his hens. Now 
this was all right as far as it went, but there was something that 
the Professor had not taken into consideration. He had pro- 
cured the 'best birds he could find, had trap-nested them to 
discover the hens that were the most prolific layers, had se- 
lected the eggs from what he had considered to be the best 
hens for the purpose (and few men had better judgment in 
this respect). He had mated up the best-looking cockerels 
from these best eggs from the best-laying hens, and according 
to all apparent precedents was he not justified in expecting an 
increase each year in egg-production? But what were the re- 
sults? If reports are true, there was a decrease in egg-produc- 
tion, and what do you suppose was the cause? There must 
be some cause. There is a cause for every effect. Sometimes 
we think things just happen; that there is no natural law that 
gov(3rns them; that in this or that case it was all chance; that 
it may not have happened to another person, and will not be 
likely to happen to us again, and so we dismiss the matter only 
to have the same thing repeat itself, until we either solve the 
problem or meet our doom through it. And thereby hangs 
a tale. 

Some time in the summer of 1905 I received a letter from 
a doctor in one of the suburbs of Boston, asking me what I 



THE CALL OF THE HEN. 23 

would charge to visit Orono, Maine, and have a talk with 
Professor Gowell, and incidentally to drop a few remarks 
that might be of some help to him in his investigations. I 
had never met the Professor, but I replied to the Doctor that 
I would go (I was then living in .Minnesota), and would 
pay my owti expenses, as I wished to visit Boston, m}'^ birth- 
place, and where 1 first started in poultry-keeping in 1857, 
and it would be a small matter to go from there to Orono, 
Maine, where Professor Gowell was conducting his experiments. 
While I was waiting for a reply, I decided that as Professor 
Gowell had put so much time and thought into the trap- 
nest proposition and had built so much on that one thing, 
and that as he could get results from it (only it was a waste of 
time), that in this first visit to him I would offer only one 
suggestion and that was the secret of selecting the birds, 
both male and female, that would be sure to breed progeny 
that would be better than their parents along the lines in 
which the parents excelled, or, in other words, transmit their 
predominating characteristics to their offspring; that is, if 
the cockerel or cock bird and hens were typical meat type l)irds, 
the progeny would excel along these lines. Some of them 
would excel their parents in the production of meat; they 
would l)e hardier, better feeders, would digest and assimilate 
their food better, and consequently arrive at maturity sooner, 
and be of better flavor and more tender, and by breeding 
these birds along the lines laid down by I. K. Fetch, of Natick, 
Massachusetts (''line breeding" he calls it), the}^ would im- 
prove each season, so that in a number of years there would be a 
great difference in their favor over their parents. If the pen 
was a fancy proposition and had been l)red some years for fancy 
points, the progeny would show a decided improvement in a 
few years over their parents. If the pen were the typical egg 
type, the progeny would show an increase over their parents 
in stamina and egg-production. I would also have shown him 
where the birds he was breeding from were deficient in the 
faculty that governs fecundity, or, in other words, which 
controls the function of reproduction. 

Whittier, in "Maud Muller," says, "For of all sad words 
of tongue or pen, the saddest are these: it might have been." 
Yes, "it might have been." Professor Gowell might have lived 
to give many more years of aid to the poultry world and his 
tragic death been prevented; but he wrote the Doctor tha the 



24 THE CALL OP THE HEM. 

did not want me to come. He seemed determined to solve 
the problem himself, and no doubt would have done so if he 
had been as care-free from routine duties as a man in his posi- 
tion should have been; and I charge his untimely end to society. 
The men and women in pur public institutions who are giving 
their lives for the benefit of humanity are not appreciated at 
their true value. We demand the full limit of routine duties, 
forgetting that it is impossible for a tired body to furnish suf- 
ficient nutriment to the brain to solve these intricate problems 
that are continually confronting them, and while we cause them 
to suffer mentally and physically individually, we cause our- 
selves to suffer collectively, by our parsimonious treatment 
of them. 



CHAPTER II. 



Preliminary Remarks, Giving Some Advice to the 
Reader. 

The writer is not one of the long-winded kind. I don't 
like to talk a long time in order to say a few words, or write 
a dozen pages where one will do as well. I believe in handing 
out the chunks of gold with as little dross as possible. I 
think the reader would rather receive the information I have 
to offer in one page than in a dozen; that he would rather 
discover the facts in a few feet than to be obliged to hunt over 
a hundred acres of literary space for the same information. 
For that reason I will make this work as brief as possible. I 
will be aided in my effort to do so by the fact that the theories 
offered in this work have been more or less demonstrated by 
the Government Experimental Stations of New Zealand and 
the States of Minnesota and California; also in the poultry 
plants of the five State hospitals (which contain thousands of 
hens) in the State of California, under the auspices of the State 
Board of Health and the physicians of the different hospitals. 
It might not be a difficult matter to mislead a few poultrymen 
on a subject that deals wholly with physiology and anatomy, 



THE CALL OF THE HEN. 25 

but it would be absurd to think for a moment that one could 
deceive all the physicians in five State insane hospitals. It 
seems a man who would still doubt would believe the world is 
flat, especially when he learns that a member of the State 
Board of Health told the writer that there was a difference of 
$1,500 in favor of using the system, in one year, in one of the 
hospitals alone. 

We commence in this chapter the unfolding of a method 
or test by which the reader can tell approximately the value 
of a hen and a male bird as a breeding proposition (and in the 
chapter on Breeding alone this book will l)e worth its weight 
in gold to the fanciers), an egg-producer or a meat-producer. 
It is my desire to make the facts contained in this book so 
clear and the tests so easy of application tliat anyone can be- 
come proficient in the use of them in a short time. Therefore 
I have prepared a series of illustrations showing numerous 
types and conditions of fowls, also various other facts that may 
better be shown by pictures than by explanations alone. 

You will remember, no doubt, that j^ou did not arrive at 
your present proficiency in reading in a day or two; that it 
took some little time, and there was a certain system or evo- 
lution in your study. You will find the same true of this 
method. There is a certain process that leads from one step 
to another, until you have covered the system, when by re- 
peated study and practice you will become proficient and ac- 
complish what at first seems impossible. It may seem an 
impossible task to handle and grade sixteen hundred hens in 
six hours, but the writer has done it. With sufficient help 
to hand me the hens, we graded (or, in other words, tested 
out) sixteen hundred hens in six hours in the State Hospital 
poultry yards at Ukiah, Mendocino County, California, in 
March, 1910. "Not so bad for a semi-invalid of 62," we hear 
you say. Our reply is, "It's practice." You can do the same. 
Go through the movements with every hen you pick up each 
day, and in a short time what at first is difficult will appear quite 
easy. 

For some years previous to 1912 there was great activity 
in the poultry industry, there having been no lack of poultry 
papers, farm papers, and magazines that for a nominal sum 
would give tuition in poultry culture. The ease of getting a 
theoretical knowledge of the business induced thousands to 
take it up who otherwise would not have thought of doing so. 



26 THE CALL OF THE HEN. 

The apparent ease of conducting the business, the small amount 
of capital it was supposed to require, with the large and steady 
income it offered, were the will-o'-the-wisps that lured many 
to financial loss. I would warn my readers against rushing 
into the poultry business on a scale beyond their means without 
first obtaining a working knowledge of the same. With good 
stock, with the proper environment, a good market, and a 
working knowledge of the business, there is little danger of 
failure, if one is willing to do the work necessary on a poultry 
plant. It offers the most independent living for the smallest 
amount of capital of any business I know of. 

The requisites for success are the knowledge of how to 
be able to select the hen you need for any particular pur- 
pose, Avhetlier it is for eggs or for meat or fancy; whether the 
lien will be a paying proposition or not (this may depend 
on 3^our market); whether she will l)e a})le to transmit her 
predominating characteristics to her offspring or not. Also 
you must be aV)lc to judge accurately the value of the male 
bird as to what you want him for and as to his ability to stamp 
his offspring with the desired qualities. All the above you 
can learn from this book. You should also know how to 
operate incul^ators; how to feed and care for little chicks; 
how your hen-houses should be built to suit your climate; how 
your growing pullets should be fed and housed; and the best 
way to feed to get the most eggs at the smallest cost, and 
how to feed and mate to get fertile eggs and vigorous chicks. 
There are numerous books published on all of these latter 
subjects that you can buy from the pubhshers of any poultry 
paper; so we do not take up the matter in this work; we give 
only what you cannot get elsewhere. 

Following is a series of half-tones and explanations rep- 
resenting the method we have used in instructing hundreds 
of poultrymen and women in California and other States and 
the managers of poultry plants in a number of State institutions 
in the State of California. 



THE CALL OF THE HEN. 27 



CHAPTER III. 



The Various Steps in the Application of the Method of 
Selection for Egg-production. 

There are four characteristics that it is al:)sohitely nec- 
essary for a hen to possess for the economical production of 
eggs or meat. The first is capacity, the second is con diticn 
the third is type, and the fourth is constitutional vigor. The 
reader must bear the first three in mind in studying the next 
few chapters, as we will dispose of these before taking other 
matters into consideration. 

First. What Is Capacity? — Cai:)acity means the abtlominal 
capacity to consume and assimilate the amount of food neces- 
sary to produce the number of eggs or the amount of meat 
necessary to make the individual hen under consideration a 
paying proposition. We measure the capacity of the hen l)y 
placing the hand across the al)domen between the end of the 
breast-bone, or keel, and the pelvic Ijones. The method will 
be shown in detail in Chapter IV. 

Second. Condition. — If the hen under consideration is an 
egg type, she must be kept in proper bodily condition l)y sui)- 
plying her with the right quantity and cjuality of food that will 
furnish her with vitality to produce the number of eggs required 
of her. If the hen is in good condition, the flesh on the breast 
will be plump or practically flush with the breast-bone. Any 
variation in that condition Avill l)c shown by a shrinking away 
of the flesh of the breast, and will be followed Ijj- a corresponding 
shrinking of the abdomen. We show tliis ])y illustration and 
example later. 

Third. Type. — She must be of a type that everything 
she consumes is used in producing the desired effect, whether 
it is meat, whether it is eggs, or whether it is the maximum 
amount of (^ggs and meat that a dual-purpose hen can produce. 
According to our idea, the type of hen determines how she will 
dispose of the food she eats. The kind of type is showai l)y 
the relative thickness of the pelvic bones. The very thin bone 
indicate the egg type. As we pass into the dual-purpose and 
beef types we find the bones becoming thicker. We show 
these by illustrations and charts later. 

With the reader bearing the above three propositions in 
mind — namely, Capacity, Condition, and Tjrpe — we will pro- 
ceed" to show how to judge the hen with the least amount of 
time and labor. 



/ 



28 



THE CALL OF THE HEN. 




Fig. 1 — Showing hens in house. 

Fig. 1 shows the interior of an open-front colony house, 
largely used arountl Petaluma. The roosts are connected to 
the house by hinges, so they can be hooked up out of the way 
while cleaning the house or examining the hens, as in the 
present case. These houses are usually about 8 feet wide and 
10 feet deep inside, with 4 feet posts and pitch roof. These 
houses are open front, with the exception of 18 inches on each 
side, as can be seen on one side, where hens are going out of 
the house into the catching-coop. When hens move too slow 
to suit, one or more persons (children will do) can take a grain 
sack by bottom side in one hand and top side in the other hand 
and go into the house holding sacks spread apart and moving 
gently close to the floor or ground and drive the hens into the 
catching-coop. When the coop is full, shut down the slide 
door on outside to prevent hens returning to the house. 

Some readers may have long houses, holding five hundred 
hens or more. In this case you will need a panel, run diagonally 
across the house to a point near the opening, where the hens 
go in and out of the house, as in Fig. Ij^. This panel can be 




Fig. 13-2 — Showing 2-iiich wire panel placed diagonallv across house 
hokling 2,000 hens. 




Fjg. 2 — Showing hens in catching-crate. 



30 



THE CALL OF THE HEN. 




Fig. 3 — Showing how hens are taken out of catcliins-crate. 



as long as required for the width of the house and made in 
sections, if desired, and should l)e 6 feet or more high. 

Fig. 2 shows hens in the coop. When there are enough in, 
we shut down the slide door and proceed as in Fig. 3. 

Fig. 3. Note the slide door on top of the crate. We open 
this just enough to admit our arm while we grasp the hen firmly 
by both legs, so she can't twist around and injure herself. A 
slide door is better than a hinged door, as you can open the 
former just enough to take out the hen without so much danger 
of any of the other hens escaping. 

Fig. 4. Note how the right arm is held in Fig. 4. This is 
not the right way, but it is the way most persons hold the left 
arm wlu^n they receive their first lesson. Now, note how the 
left arm is held; this is the right position, and it is difficult for 
me to teach students to hold their arms this way. I have to 
drill them repeatedly before they will do so. The hand which 
holds the hen by the legs should be at the height of the hip; 
this enables you to use the other hand in examining the hen 
for capacity with greater speed and accuracy. 

Fig. 5 shows how the writer holds a bird to ascertain its 
capacity by holding it this way. After long practice, he is 
enabled to inspect one in a few seconds by having three parties 
to hand him the birds and to take them from him. A small, 
light hen or pullet is best to practice with. 



THE CALL OF THE HEN. 



31 




Fig. 4 — Showing right and wrong way to hold arms. 





^ j 

I 

t 

1 



Fig. 5 — Showing how a hen may be held while testing capacity. 



32 



THE CALL OF THE HEN. 




Fig. 6- 
anything. 



-Sliowing where the hen's head should be so she cannot see 



Fig. 6 shows where the head of the bird should be. You 
will note that her eyes are covered up so she can't see, and that 
has a tendency to keep her quiet while you examine her. 

Fig. 7 gives an example of testing the capacity of a hen. 
The hand is placed on the abdomen between the two pelvic 
bones and the rear of the breast-bone, the left hand holding 
the legs is turned under enough to bring the thighs away from 
the point of the breast-bone, so that the thighs will not inter- 
fere with measuring the depth of the abdomen. The depth of 
the abdomen will vary with different hens; some will be one 
finger (a finger means the width of a finger the widest way; I 
have called it three-fourths of an inch) between the two 
pelvic bones (sometimes called "lay" bones or "vent" bones) 
and the rear of the breast-bone. Some hens will be two fingers 
between the two pelvic bones and the rear of the breast-bone, 
some will be three fingers, some will be four fingers, some 
will be five fingers, some will be six fingers, and occasion- 
ally one will be seven fingers between the two pelvic bones 
and the rear of the breast-bone. The depth of the abdomen 



THE CALL OF THE HEN. 



33 



indicates the capacity or the abihty of the bird to consume and 
assimilate food, and it apphes to all breeds, except that, every- 
thing else being equal, the longer-bodied hen, having more 




Fi(i. 7 — Showing liow to test capacity. 

room for the digestive machinery, would have some advantage 
over the shorter-bodied hen. 

Fig. 8. This indicates how to hold a hen when you ex- 
amine her for condition. This is one of the most difficult and 
serious problems a poultryman has to deal with. To illus- 
trate, I will cite one case out of hundreds that have come under 
my observation. A gentleman wrote me to call on him, as he 
was having trouble with his hens. When I arrived at his place, 
he told me that when he fed his hens well he got lots of eggs, 
but some of his hens died; then when he did not feed them so 
well they did not lay so many eggs, but none of them died. He 
said he had repeated this a number of times with the same 
results. He said the ones that died were as fat as butter. I 
picked up one of the hens; she was in prime condition for the 
market. I picked up another one; she was very thin. I ex- 
amined all his hens. I found he had, like a great many poultry- 
men, three distinct types of hens: the egg type, the dual- 
purpose type, and the meat type. As he had fancy birds in all 



34 



THE CALL OF THE HEN. 



the different types, he did not want to dispose of any of his 
flock, so I segregated them into three divisions: the egg type, 
the dual-purpose type, and the meat type. After that he fed 
the egg type all the grain they could clean up in the scratching- 
shed and kept a balance-ration of dry ground feed before them 
all tlie time. The dual-purpose hens were fed all the grain thej^ 
could clean up in the scratching-shed, with a small amount 
of dry ground feed each day. The meat type hens were fed 




Fig. 8 — Showing how to test condition. Tiie legs of the hen are 
drawn upward, so that you can see the breast. The condition is tested 
by placing the thumb and forefinger about 14. inch from the front of the 
breast-bone. Figs. 20, 21, and 22 show the method in detail. 

a smaller amount of grain in the scratching-shed, with a couple 
of feeds each week of dry ground mash — just enough to keep 
them in condition. After this he had no more trouble with 
his hens not laying in the proper season and dying from being 
too fat. He would occasionally pick up hens in the different 
pens and note their condition and feed them accordingly. He 
told me later that before he had taken the lessons he had been 
working completely in the dark, but now he understood the 
matter thoroughly and knew what to do. 



THE CALL OF THE HEN. 



35 




Fig. 9— Showing one movement that has proved an aid in testing type. 
The right hand is placed imder the breast of the hen to steady lier while 
the legs are drawn downward to bring the hen into position so that she 
may be examined for type (as in cut 10). 

Fi«'. 9. After examining the hen as in Fig. 8, place the 
hand as in Fig. 9, and hold right hand firmly enough to prevent 
her from slipping down. 

Fig. 10. Then move the left hand down, as in Fig. 10, and 
hold left hand firm enough to keep her in place while removing 
right hand. 

Type. 

Fig. 11. Now, brush feathers away from vent with back 
of hand and grasp end of pelvic bone so that it comes flush 
with outside of fingers, as in Fig. 11. This indicates the Type 
of the bird. Some will be one-sixteenth (Vie) of an inch thick, 
including the flank as held between the thumb and forefinger, 
as seen in Fig. 11, and will vary all the way up to one and a 
quarter (1}4) inches, including bone, gristle, fat, and flank, as 
seen in Fig. 31. 

The reader is aware by this time that we are in the chapter 
pertaining to T3rpe, the last of the three classes that it is nec- 
essary to divide poultry into in order to make a scientific classi- 



^6 THE CALL OF THE HEN. 

fication to enable one to arrive at the approximate value of 
the "Individual Bird" as an Egg or as a Meat proposition 
(and without any regard as to its value as a breeder, which 
will be shown later). I wish to repeat here that Type is con- 
trolled wholly by temperament. We must select the tempera- 
ment or combinations of temperaments that suit our purpose, 
and then, with the desired capacity and by scientific feeding, so 




Fig. 10 — Showing another movement that has proved an aid in 
testing type. The legs are drawn well under tlie hen, thus throwing the 
pelvic bones forward. The right hand is then removed and used to ex- 
amine the thickness of the pelvic bones (Fig. 11). 

as to keep the subject in proper condition, poultry-culture will 
become more of a science with the majority of poultrymen 
than it is at present. In order to prepare the reader for what 
is to follow, I will divide poultry into three distinct classes as 
to temperaments. 

The hen that will produce the largest amount of eggs with 
the smallest amount of meat possible for her capacity is of 
the nervous temperament. The hen which uses one-half of 
her vitality in producing eggs and the other half of her vitality 
in producing meat — in other words, the dual-purpose hen — is 
a combination of both the sanguine and bilious temperaments 



THE CALL OF THE HEN. 



37 



and is called "the hen with the sanguinc-biHous temperament." 
The hen that produces the hirgest amount of flesh and the 
smallest amount of eggs consistent with her capacity is of the 
lymphatic temperament. 




Fig. 11 — Shows method of testinp; type. The thumb and forefinger 
are placed one on each side of the pelvic bone so that you may estimate 
the thickness of the same, including flesh, fat, gristle, etc. 

In a fowl all the different temperaments and their different 
degrees of combinations are indicated by the pelvic bones. In 
the horse they are indicated largely by the breed. The Arabian, 
the ideal running and trotting horse, is a good type of the nerv- 
ous temperament, the coach horse is a good type of the san- 
guine-bilious temperament, and the Clyde is a good type of 
the lymphatic temperament. In cattle we have a good exam- 
ple of the nervous temperament in the Jersey, and of the lym- 
phatic in the beef family of Durham, also Hereford and Polled 
Angus, while the Holstein and Ayrshire cattle are good types 
of the sanguine-bilious combined. 

I have made this deviation so I could offer to my poultry 
friends this thought: that there are certain laws in Nature 
that have no regard for our theories, and the better we under- 
stand these laws, the less liable we are to make mistakes. 



38 



THE CALL OF THE HEN, 

CHAPTER IV. 



Capacity. 



In the preceding chapters we have given the reader an idea 
of the method we use in judging the value of a hen for the pur- 




FiG. 12 — One-finger abdomen. (Capacity.) This indicates a hen of 
very small capacity to consume and assimilate food. She never can be a 
lar^e eater, hence of not much value. 



THE CALL OF THE HEN. 39 

pose we wish her for. In the succeeding chapters we wlli 
explain the method in detail. 

First, we will take up "Capacity." 




Fig. 13 — Two-finger abdomen. (Capacity.) Slightly larger capacity 
than the preceding, but still of relatively small ability to consume food. 



40 THE CALL OF THE HEN. 

Fig. 12 shows a hen with only one finger capacity (^ 
of an inch) between the two pelvic bones and the rear of the 
breast-bone. 




Fig. 14 — Three-finger abdomen. (Capacity.) Indicating very good 
ability to consume and assimilate food. We find hens that lay as high as 
ISO eggs in their first laying year in this class, depending on the type. 



THE CALL OF THE HEN. 4I 

Fig. 13 shows a hen with two fingers capacity (3^ inches) be- 
tween the two pelvic bones and the rear of the lireast-bone. 

Fig. 14 shows a hen with three fingers capacity (23^4 inches) 
between the two pelvic bones antl the rear of the breast-bone. 




Fic. l.'j — Foiir-finger abdomen. (Capacity.) A hen of very large 
capacity to consume and assimilate food. We find 220-egg hens in this 
class, provided they have the right type. 



42 



THE CALL OF THE HEN. 



Fig. 15 shows a hen with four fingers capacity (3 inches) be- 
tween the two pelvic bones and the rear of the breast-bone. 




Fig. 1G— Five-finger abdomen. (Capacity.) A hen of still larger 
ability to consume food than the preceding. We find 250-egg hens in 
this class, if of the right type. 

Fig. 16 shows a hen with five fingers [capacity (Scinches) 
between the two pelvic bones and the rear of the breast-bone. 



THE CALL OF THE HEN, 



43 




Fig. 17 — Six-finger abdomen. (Capacity.) Iiuli(^atiiifi; cxtreniely 
large capacity to consume and assimilate food. She may he a 2S0-egg 
type hen or a heavy beef type hen. 



Fig. 17 shows a hen with six fingers capacity (41-2 inches) 
between the two pelvic bones and the rear of the breast-bone. 



44 



THE CALL OF THE HEN. 

CHAPTER V. 



Condition. 
We next come to "Condition." 




Fic. 18 — Showing hen in very poor condition. The feathers being 
phicked away shows the actual condition of tlie flesh. We call a hen in 
this condition "three fingers out of condition," which indicates that her 
abdomen has shrunken up three fingers. If she now has a capacity of one 
finger, when in good condition she would be four fingers abdomen; if she 
has a capacity of two fingers now, she would have five fingers capacity 
when in good condition. 

Fig. 18 shows a hen in very poor condition. 




Fig. 19 — Showing hen in good condition. You wiU note that the flesh 
is even with the breast-bone. This hen would show her normal abdominal 
depth when examined. 

Fig. 19 shows a hen in perfect condition, as indicated by 

her full breast. 



THE CALL OF THE HEN. 



45 




P^in. 20 — Showing lien one finger out of condition. You will note 
that the flesh appears slightly shrunken away from the breast-bone. When 
the thumb and forefinger are placed as in the cut, about 3-2 inch from the 
front of the breast-bone, the flesh will be below the breast-bone, as shown 
by the mark on finger in Fig. 23. This would indicate that the hen was 
one finger less capacity. If three fingers now, she would be four fingers 
capacity when in condition, etc. 

Fig. 20 is somewhat thinner, as indicated Ijy breast-l)one. 
We call her one finger out of condition. 

Tlie degrees of condition show tiie amount of shrinkage in 
abdominal depth. One finger out of condition shows she has 
shrunken one finger in depth of abdomen; two fingers out of 
condition shows she has shrunken two fingers in depth of 
abdomen; three fingers out of condition shows she has shrunken 
three fingers in depth of abdomen. 





^31 




""^ 


^B. 


'^^^^^^HhB 



Fig. 21 — Showing hen tw^o fingers out of condition. The flesh is 
shrunken away from the breast-bone to about the depth indicated by the 
middle line on the finger in Fig. 23, which is about the middle of the first 
joint. ^ This shows that she is two fingers less in abdominal depth than 
when in good condition. 



46 



THE CALL OF THE HEN. 




Fig. 22-Showing hen three fingers out of condition. This hen would 
be three fingers less in abdominal depth than when in good condition. 




Fig. 22a — ^This shows you just where to place your finger on the keel 
or breast-bone in order to measiu'C or determine the condition of the hen. 
In order to properly determine this fact, place your finger about 1 inch 
back from the front point of the keel or breast-bone, as you see illustrated 
above. 



THE CALL OF THE HE^f. 



47 



Fig. 21 is still thinner, as reader can see by the breast-bone. 
We call her two fingers out of condition. 

Fig. 22 is still thinner. This we call three fingers out of 
condition, and is about as thin as a hen usually gets, if there is 
any chance for her ever being of any use. 




Fig. 23 — Showing where the imaginaiy lines should be drawn on the 
first joint of the forefinger in order to judge the condition of the hen 
or pullet. 

Fig. 23 shows about how the first joint of an index finger 
must be divided up to determine the three degrees of condition. 



CHAPTER VI. 



Type. 
We now come to "Type." This is indicated by the thick- 
ness of the pelvic bones, together with the flesh, fat, gristle, 
and cartilage on same. (See page 17.) 



THE CALL OF THE HEN. 




Fig. 24 — '/le-inch pelvic bone. Indicating a typical egg-type hen, 
which means that virtually all the food she consumes above that necessary 
for bodily maintenance goes toward the production of eggs. If of one- 
finger abdomen, she would lay about 36 eggs in her first laying year; if of 
three-finger abdomen, she would lay about 180; and if of six-finger ab- 
domen, she might lay 280 eggs in her first laying year. 

Fig. 24 shows a hen whose pelvic bones are one-sixteenth (Vie) 
of an inch thick ; that is about as thick as piece of cardboard 
that paper boxes are made of, and the reader must bear in mind 
that the measurement of the pelvic bone does not mean the 
bone alone, with the skin, flesh, gristle, and fat scraped off, as 
some may suppose, but with all the above included. 

Fig. 25 shows a hen with pelvic bones one-eighth (3^8) oi 
an inch thick. 



^ 


^^^H . ^V^ M il^^^^^^^^Hjk "' ^^^^^!^A .^^^^^^^^H 



Fig. 25 — K-iii(^'i pelvic bone; indicating egg type, but not so typical 
as the preceding. If of one-finger abdomen, she would lay about 32 eggs 
in her first laying year; if of three-finger abdomen, about 166 eggs; and if 
of six-finger abdomen, about 265 eggs in her first laying year. 




Fig. 26 — J'l-inch pelvic bone; indicating a .slightly more beefy hen 
than the preceding types, but still of the egg tyi)e. If of one-finger ab- 
domen, she would lay about 24 eggs in her first laying-year; if of three- 
finger abdomen, about 138 eggs; and if of six-finger abdomen, about 235 
eggs in her first laying _\'ear. 




Fig. 27 — ^^-inch pelvic bone; indicating that the hen uses a larger 
proportion of the food she consumes in making flesh and less in the pro- 
duction of eggs. A one-finger abdomen hen would lay about 16 eggs; a 
three-finger abdomen hen, about 110 eggs; and a six-finger abdomen hen, 
about 205 eggs in the first laying year. 



50 



THE CALL OF THE HEN. 



Fig. 26 shows a hen with pelvic bones one-quarter (3^) of 
an inch thick. 

Fig. 27 shows a hen with pelvic bones three-eighths (^g) of 
an inch thick. 




Fig. 28 — l2-^nch pelvic bone; indicating a still more beefy hen 
than the preceding — that is, a still larger jjroportion of the food consumed 
is vised to make flesh and less to produce eggs. If of one-finger abdomen, 
she would lay about 8 eggs; and if of three-finger abdomen, she would lay 
about 82 eggs; while if of six-finger abdomen, she would lay about 175 
eggs in the first laying year. 




Fig. 29 — M-inch pelvic bone. A pretty good specimen of the beef 
type. We find no two-finger abdomen hens that have pelvic bones so 
thick, because they cannot consume enough food. A two-finger abdomen 
hen is virtually a non-layer; a three-finger abdomen hen will lay about 
24 eggs; and a six-finger-abdomen hen will lay about 115 eggs in the first 
laying year. 



THE CALL OF THE HEN. 



51 



Fig. 28 shows a hen with pelvic bones one-half (14) of an 
inch thick. 




Fig. .30 — 1-inch pelvic bone. A very beefy type. Almost all the 
food consumed above that required for bodily maintenance is used in the 
making of flesh. We find them in the hens that have abdomens from 
four to six fingers deep. They lay very few eggs. 




Fig. 31 — IJ^-inch pelvic bone. This indicates that the hen is of the 
typical beef type. She is an enormous feeder, hence only found in 
hens of about six-finger capacity. She will lay practically no eggs. 



52 



THE CALL OF THE HEN. 



Fig. 29 shows a hen with pelvic bones three-quarters (^^) 
of an inch thick. 

Fig. 30 shows a hen with pelvic bones one (1) inch thick. 

Fig. 31 shows a hen with pelvic bones one and one-quarter 
(13<4) inches thick. 

Now, please bear in mind that everything shown and 
related here refers to Leghorns and applies to other breeds 
as well, only in a lesser degree — so small that it amounts to 
almost nothing, as I will show later. 




Fig. 32 — Crooked pelvic bone. "A, A," Position No. 1. 

A, A, Fig. 32, shows the pelvic bones with flesh cleaned off. 

B, B, Fig. 33, shows the pelvic bones with flesh stripped off 
farther and painted black so they will show up better. You 
will notice that the pelvic liones in Fig. 32 and Fig. 33 are 
crooked. The majority of poultry have more or less crooked 
pelvic bones. Sometimes the bones come close together, 
which is an obstruction in laying, and should be bred away 
from as much as possible. 

Fig. 34 shows perfect pelvic bones. In this form they 



THE CALL OF THE HEN. 



53 



are very easy to take between the thumb and finger; also, when 
the hen wants to lay the vent has a chance to fall down be- 
tween the pelvic bones, which allows the egg to be delivered 
without straining on the part of the hen. Not every poultry- 




Fia. 33 — Crooked pelvic bone, "B, B, " PcLsition No. 2. Hens with 
bones curved like this will lay about 20 })or cent less than hens of the same 
type and capacity with straight pelvic bones, as in Fig. 34. 

man, but every poultrywoman has seen cases where a hen has 
gone on the nest and after a couple of hours commenced to 
cackle her head off. Presently we hear the whole flock take 
up the chorus, and going to see what the trouble is, we find the 
hens holding an "Old Maids' Convention" and declaring they 
will never lay another egg, it hurts them so much to do so. 
On examining them, we find the pelvic bones so crooked they 
come together like the horns on a Jersey cow, and when the 
hens lay, instead of the vent dropping down between the pelvic 
bones, allowing the egg to be released in an easy manner in 
a few minutes after the hen goes on the nest, the egg is forced 
to be delivered between the pelvic bones and tail bone, thus 
prolonging the agony of the hen sometimes for hours, when, 



54 



THE CALL OF THE HEN. 




Fig. 34 — Most perfect pelvic bones, "C, C." Hens with pelvic bones 
like this will lay about 20 per cent more than those having bones like 
Fig. 33. 

if she was built right, as in Fig. 34, she would be relieved of the 
egg without pain in a few minutes. And instead of wasting 
vitality in getting relieved of the egg, she would be rustling 
around for material to build another one, and thus add at least 
20 per cent to her egg-producing value. This matter of crooked 
pelvic bones is more frequent in some breeds than in others, 
and is a serious matter that is very easily remedied by breeding 
only from birds with the straightest pelvic bones; especially 
looking after the male birds, as one male bird with crooked 
pelvic bones will transmit this defect to all of his daughters. 

When I came to Petaluma, I found whole flocks of thous- 
ands of hens with crooked bones; now they are very rare. The 
poultry-breeders soon caught on to my straight-and-thin-pelvic- 
bone idea; and I think the Society for the Prevention of 
Cruelty to Animals should recognize my services in relieving 
millions of hens of the agony of parturition. 

The reader will please bear in mind that Fig. 34 represents 
100 per cent pelvic bone and holds the same relation to pelvic 



THE CALL OF THE HEN. 55 

bones in general that a bird that scores 100 in the show-room 
holds to all other high-class birds. 

A 250-egg type cock bird or cockerel with pelvic bones 
like Fig. 34 would be of inestimable value. The writer has 
cock birds like the above that he would not part with for any 
money, for the reason that it would take several years' breeding 
to produce their equals. 

If the reader has male birds whose pelvic bones are far 
enough apart that he can grasp the ends with thumb and finger 
when measuring the thickness, he should be satisfied until he 
can do better. 

I have found more straight pelvic bones in some strains of 
Orpingtons than in any other breed. So long as the pelvic 
bones are comparatively straight after leaving the frame and 
do not curve abruptly toward the ends, the birds may be used as 
breeders, with the assurance that some of the offspring will 
show a wonderful improvement in this respect. Figs 32, 33, 
and 34 are extreme cases. 



CHAPTER VII. 



The First Laying Year. 

What is meant by "the first laying year"? All old poul- 
trymen know what the above means, and I have no doubt 
some of my readers may be impatient with me for explaining 
little things that are so familiar to them; but they will re- 
member that poultry parlance is not all contained in the dic- 
tionary, and a great deal of the contents of this book may be 
Greek to the beginners in the poultry business who will read 
this work. For this reason I cannot be too plain in my lan- 
guage or too careful of details in explaining matters. The 
first laying year has nothing whatever to do with the age of a 
hen or pullet. I have had hens that had passed their first 
laying-year when they were sixteen months old. On the other 
hand, I have seen hens that were over four years old that had 
not commenced on their first laying year. The hen that had 
passed her first laying year when she was sixteen months old 
had commenced to lay when she was four months old, while the 
hens that were over four years old had never laid an egg. So 
the reader will see the first laying year commences with the 



56 THE CALL OF THE HEN. 

first egg a pullet lays and ends one year from that date, when 
her second laying year commences. Some pullets will com- 
mence to lay at four months old, while others of exactly the 
same type, fed and cared for in the same manner, will not lay 
before they are eight months old, owing to different environ- 
ment. Everything else being equal, poultry will develop 
faster on a warm, dry, sandy soil than they will on a black, 
damp, heavy soil; and they will mature much sooner in a 
good corn country, where it is warm in the shade and warm 
at night, than they will in a poor corn country, where it is cool 
at night and cool in the daytime in the shade. I have raised 
Leghorn pullets that were fully developed in size and form and 
laid a full-sized egg when they were four months old. 

It can l)e done in Massachusetts, New York, New Hamp- 
shire, and Minnesota, and in parts of California, where the 
nights are so warm that one can sleep comfortably under a 
sheet only; but not where you have to cuddle under a lot of 
blankets on a summer night to keep warm. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



The Selection of Types. 

If the reader has practiced handling a hen as in Figs. 5, 6, 7, 
8, 9, 10, and 11, we will proceed with a lesson in judging hens as 
to the number of eggs they will lay their first laying year. 

We will look for a small hen to commence with, as she will 
be easier to handle. Having our hen, we will hold her as 

CHART 1. 
One-finger Abdomen. 

Vi6 pelvic bone 36 eggs 

}/8 pelvic bone 32 eggs 

Vi6 pelvic bone 28 eggs 

3-^ pelvic bone 24 eggs 

Vi6 pelvic bone 20 eggs 

^ pelvic bone 16 eggs 

7i6 pelvic bone 12 eggs 

y2 pelvic bone 8 eggs 

Vi6 pelvic bone 4 eggs 

^ pelvic bone eggs 



THE CALL OP THE HEN. 57 

nearly as we can as in Fig. 5, and try to have her head as in 
Fig. 6, so she can see nothing. She will then be easier to 
handle. Place hand across her abdomen, as in Fig. 7. She may 
be a one-finger-abdomen hen, as in Fig. 12. Then hold her as 
in Fig. 8. Her breast may be as in Fig. 19; if so, she will be in 
good condition. Next go through movements as in Figs. 9 and 
10 and hold her and examine her pelvic bone as in Fig. 11. 
Her pelvic bone may l)e one-sixteenth (Vie) of an inch thick, 
as in Fig. 24. Now look on Chart 1. Your hen is one fin- 
ger al)dumen, in good condition, and her pelvic ]:)one is one- 
sixteenth (Vie) of an inch thick. You will see that she is a 36- 
egg type hen. That means that if this hen is one of a large 
number on a commercial poultry plant, she is capal)le of laying 
three dozen eggs her first laying year, if she is f(>d and cared for 
proi)erly, barring accidents and disease. So we will call her 
a 36-egg type hen. 

We will droi3 this hen and take another from the crate 
and go through the same movements. Hokl her as in Fig. 5 
or Fig. 7, with head as in Fig. 6 (she may also be a one-finger- 
abdomen hen, as in Fig. 12), then examine for condition, as in 
Fig. 8. Her condition may be good, as in Fig. 19; then hold 
as in Figs. 9 and 10, and measure thickness of pelvic bone, as in 
Fig. 11. Her pelvic bone may be three-eighths {%) of an inch 
thick, as in Fig. 27; in that case she would read like this: One- 
finger abdomen; good condition; three-eighths (%) pelvic 
bone. Now, look on Chart 1, and you will find she is a 
16-egg type hen. 

We will drop her and take another from the crate, and go 
through the same movements as l)efore. This hen may be a 
one-finger-abdomen hen also, in good condition, with jielvic 
bone 14 iiicli thick, as in Fig. 28, and by consulting Chart 1 
we find she is an 8-egg type hen. 

We drop her and take another from the crate. She may 
be a hen with one-finger abdomen, as in Fig. 12. When we 
examine her condition, we find she is like Fig. 20, which indi- 
cates that she is one finger out of condition (the subject of 
"Condition" is explained in Chapter V.); her pelvic bone may 
be Vi6 of an inch thick, as in Fig. 24. This hen will read dif- 
ferent from the other hen that was Vie pelvic bone. This hen 
is out of condition. She may have been in condition up to a 
few weeks previous to our examination of her; the cause of 
her lack of condition may be improper food or care, or both, 



58 THE CALL OF THE HEN. 

or it may be due to moulting, or she may have been broody. In 
any of these cases it would not be the hen's fault that she was 
out of condition, and she should not be held responsible for it. 
Her condition indicates that there is something wrong, and 
it 's up to her owner to right the wrong, and when we do right 
the wrong, the hen will come back into condition, and her ab- 
domen will then measure two fingers instead of one finger- 
We must, therefore, read her as a two-finger-abdomen hen, 
Vi6-inch pelvic bone, when, by looking on Chart 2, we find 
her capacity would be 96 eggs her first laying year, if we kept 
her in condition. 

We will drop her, and take another hen out of the crate. 
This hen may l)e a one-finger-abdomen hen, as in Fig. 12. 
When we examine her for condition, we find her as in Fig. 21; 
this indicates that she is two fingers out of condition ; her pelvic 
bone may be Vie of an inch. Under her present condition, she 
might lay 36 eggs her first laying year, whereas, if she were kept 
in good condition, she might lay 180 eggs. 

We will drop this hen and take up another one. She may be 
two fingers abdomen and her breast-bone may be as in Fig. 
19. Her pelvic bone maj^ be Vie of an inch. We would read 

CHART 2. 
Two-finger Abdomen. 

Vi6 pelvic bone 96 eggs 

3/8 pelvic bone 87 eggs 

Vie pelvic bone 78 eggs 

3^4 pelvic bone 69 eggs 

Vie pelvic bone 60 eggs 

^ pelvic bone 51 eggs 

Vie pelvic bone 42 eggs 

}/2 pelvic bone 33 eggs 

Vi6 pelvic bone 24 eggs 

Y% pelvic bone 15 eggs 

"/le pelvic bone 6 eggs 



pelvic bone eggs 



her as a two-finger-abdomen hen in good condition, pelvic 
bones Vie of an inch thick. We will look on Chart 2 at Vie-inch 
pelvic bone, and find she is a 96-egg type hen. 

We will drop her and take another from the crate. She 
may be two fingers abdomen and two fingers out of condition, 



THE CALL OF THE HEN. 59 

as in Fig. 21, with pelvic bones J-i of an inch thick. She 
would read two fingers abdomen and two fingers out of condi- 
tion. She would be four fingers abdomen if in condition, and 
3':4-inch pelvic bones. Being a four-finger-abdomen hen (if in 
condition), we will look on Chart 4 at 14-inch pelvic bone, and 
find she is a 175-egg type hen. We will drop her. 

Take another. She may be a two-finger-abdomen hen, as 
in Fig. 13, in good condition, as in Fig. 19, with pelvic bones 
^4 of an inch thick, as in Fig. 29. She would read two fingers 
abdomen; good condition; ^4-inch pelvic bones. We will 
look on Chart 2 for ^^-inch pelvic bone, and find this hen 
will lay nothing. This does not mean that she is an aljsolutely 
barren hen, that she will never lay an egg (I will explain this 
when we get to the six-finger-abdomen hen) ; she may lay a 
few, perhaps half a dozen, in the spring when the crows lay; 
but as a commercial proposition she will have no more value 
than the hen that never laid an egg. Everything she con- 
sumes goes to the making of flesh, except what she uses in 
bodily maintenance. 

We will drop her and take another. She may be a three- 
fingcr-abdomen hen, as in Fig. 14. Her condition may l)e as 
in Fig. 19, with pelvic bones as in Fig. 24. She would reail 

CHART 3. 
Three-finger Abdomen. 

V16 pelvic bone 180 eggs 

Is pelvic bone 166 eggs 

Vi« pelvic bone 152 eggs 

34 pelvic bone 138 eggs 

Vis pelvic bone 124 eggs. 

%' pelvic bone 110 eggs 

V16 pelvic bone 96 eggs 

}i pelvic l)one 82 eggs 

7i6 pelvic bone 68 eggs 

S/g pelvic bone 54 eggs 

"/is pelvic bone 40 eggs 

^4 pelvic bone 26 eggs 

"/16 pelvic bone 12 eggs 

14 pelvic bone eggs 

three fingers abdomen; in good condition; Vie-inch pelvic bone. 
We look on Chart 3 at Vie-inch pelvic bone, and find that this 
hen is a 180-egg type. 



6o THE CALL OF THE HEN. 

We will drop her and take another. She may be another 
three-finger-abdomen hen, like Fig. 14; she may be in good 
condition, like Fig. 19, and her pelvic bone may be Y2 inch 
thick, like Fig. 28. She would read three fingers abdomen; 
good condition; 3^-inch pelvic bone. We will look on Chart 3 
at 3^-inch pelvic bone, and find this hen is an 82-egg type hen . 

We will take another hen. She may be three fingers abdo- 
men, like Fig. 14; she may be in good condition, like Fig. 19, 
and her pelvic bone may lie 3^; of an inch thick, as in Fig. 29. 
We will read her as a three-finger-alxlomen hen; in good con- 
dition; ^-inch pelvic bone. We will look on Chart 3 at ^4- 
inch pelvic bone, and fintl she is a 26-egg type hen. 

We will pick up another hen. She may be three fingers 
capacity, as in Fig. 14; she may be three fingers out of condi- 
tion, as in Fig. 22, and her pelvic bones may be Vie of an incli 
thick, as in Fig. 24. We would read this hen as three fingers 
abdomen; three fingers out of condition; and Vie-inch pelvic 
bone. When a hen is three fingers out of condition she is 
in a serious way. She may have been setting or laying heavily 
and have been underfed. In either case, good care and ])lenty 
of the right kind of feed will bring her back into condition, 
provided she has not contracted tul)erculosis (going light) or 
some other wasting disease. I will cite a couple of cases out 
of hundreds that have come under my observation. 

One was a Barred Rock Ikmi that I intended to set on duck 
eggs; she was six fingers abdomen, in good condition when I 
put her on the nest, and 3^-inch pelvic bones; that indicated 
that she was a 235-egg type hen. She was on the nest two 
weeks before the duck eggs arrived and four weeks on the 
duck eggs, making six weeks setting. Owing to stress of other 
work, and being confined in an out-of-the-way place, she was 
somewhat neglected, and when the ducklings were hatched 
she was three fingers abdomen and three fingers out of con- 
dition, thus indicating a 138-egg type hen. Six weeks later 
she was laying, and had developed to six fingers abdomen, 
which was her normal condition. 

Another case was where a gentleman was in a class that 
took instructions. After the close of the meeting he brought a 
hen that was three fingers out of condition. He said that was 
his best hen, and asked me how many eggs she would lay. 
She was three fingers abdomen, three fingers out of condition, 
and Vi6-inch pelvic bone. Her head and actions indicated per- 



THE CALL OF THE HEN. 6l 

feet health. I told him she might lay 180 eggs her first laying 
year, if her condition had been the same as it was at the 
present time; but if she was my hen I thought I might be 
able to make her lay 280 eggs. "You don't feed her half 
enough." He replied, "That is the only hen I have that 
lays a white egg. 1 got her when a pullet, before she com- 
menced to lay. She has been laying about a year and has 
laid 176 eggs. I had a small lot of hens at the time that were 
so fat they were dying, and I cut down their feed and have fed 
them sparingly ever since, so they would not get too fat and 
die." I wont to his place, and found he had three types of 
hens: the typical meat typo (one with jx'lvic bones 1,18 
inches thick), some with pelvic bones Yi inch thick, and this 
hen that laid the white eggs, whose pelvic bonos wore \/i6 
of an inch thick. I told him to segregate his hens into three 
lots, and feed them according to their type. Give the egg-typo 
hens all the grain they could clean up each day in the scratching- 
shod, with a dry balanced mash before them all the time; the 
dual-purpose lions should l)0 fed all the grain they wished to 
scratch for, with an occasional mash; and the beef-type hens 
should bo fod what grain tlioy could clean up in the scratching- 
shod in about an hour. The litter should be good and deep in 
all cases. I did not mention charcoal, grit, shells, and green 
stuff, as tliat is not my Inisincss. Every man who takes a 
povdtry paper knows that part of the business, and every 
person who keeps poultry should take a poultry paper in order 
to keep posted on current poultry topics. 

The gentleman wrote me over a year later that he had 
succeeded in bringing the hen up to normal condition, as in 
Fig. 19, l)ut after laying awhile she went back to five fingers 
al)domon and one finger out of condition, and had laid 238 
eggs her next laying year. 

We will now take another hen. She may be four fingers 
alxlomon, as in Fig. 15, in good condition, as in Fig. 19, and her 
pelvic l)onos may be Vie of an inch thick, as in Fig. 24. She 
would read four fingers abdomen; good condition; Vie-inch pel- 
vic bone. If we consult Chart 4, we will find she is a 220-egg 
type hen. 

The next hen may be also four fingers abdomen, as in Fig. 
15, in good condition, as in Fig. 19, with pelvic bones H inch, 
as in Fig. 28. She would read four fingers abdomen; in good 
condition; 3^-inch pelvic bones. We will see by Chart 4 that 
this is a 115-egg type hen. 



62 THE CALL OF THE HEN. 

Our next hen may be a four-finger abdomen hen; condition 
good; pelvic bones 1 inch thick. We would read her as four 
fingers abdomen; condition good; pelvic bones 1 inch. If we 
look on Chart 4 at 1-inch pelvic bones, we will find this hen 
will lay approximately nothing. 

CHART 4. 
Four-finger Abdomen. 

Vi6 pelvic bone 220 eggs 

% pelvic bone 205 eggs 

Vi6 pelvic bone 190 eggs 

3^4 pelvic bone 175 eggs 

Vi6 pelvic bone 160 eggs 

^'s pelvic bone 145 eggs 

Vi6 pelvic bone 130 eggs 

}/2 pelvic bone 115 eggs 

Vi6 pelvic bone 100 eggs 

^ pelvic bone 85 eggs 

"/i6 pelvic bone 70 eggs 

p/( pelvic bone 55 eggs 

^Vi6 pelvic bone 40 eggs 

J^ pelvic bone 25 eggs 

^Vi6 pelvic bone 40 eggs 

1-in. pelvic bone eggs 

Our next hen may be a four-finger-abdomen hen, one finger 
out of condition, ys-'mch pelvic bone. She would indicate a 
205-egg type hen under her present condition, but we would 
read her four fingers abdomen, one finger out of condition; that 
would mean a five-finger-abdomen hen if in condition, 3^8- 
inch pelvic bone. We look on Chart 5 at j-g pelvic bone, and 
find she is a 235-egg type hen. 

Our next hen may be a five-finger-abdomen hen, as in Fig. 
16; she may be in good condition, as in Fig. 19, and her j^elvic 
bones may be Vie of an inch, as in Fig. 24. She will read five 
fingers abdomen; condition good; pelvic bones Vie inch. We 
look on Chart 5 at Vie pelvic bone, and find she is a 250-egg 
type hen. 

Our next hen may be a five-finger-abdomen hen, as in Fig. 
16; she may be in good condition, as in Fig. 19, and her pelvic 
bones may be ^ inch thick, as in Fig. 27. We would read 
her as five fingers abdomen; good condition, and %-inch pelvic 
bones. Chart 5 would show us that she was a 175-egg type 
hen, 



THE CALL OF THE HEN. 63 

CHART 5. 
Five-finger Abdomen. 

V16 pelvic bone 250 eggs 

i/g pelvic bone 235 eggs 

Vi6 pelvic bone 220 eggs 

yi pelvic lione 205 eggs 

Vi6 pelvic Iwne 190 eggs 

^^ pelvic bone 175 eggs 

Vi6 pelvic bone 160 eggs 

Yz pelvic bone 145 eggs 

Vie pelvic bone 130 eggs 

^ pelvic bone 115 eggs 

'Vi6 pelvic bone 100 eggs 

^4 pelvic bone 85 eggs 

^Vi6 pelvic bone 70 eggs 

J^ pelvic bone 55 eggs 

^Vi6 pelvic bone 40 eggs 

1-in. pelvic bone 25 eggs 

iViD pelvic bone 10 eggs 

1 1 8 pelvic bone eggs 

The next hen may be a five-finger-abdomen hen; con- 
dition good; pelvic bones 1 inch thick. She would read five 
fingers abdomen; good condition; 1-inch pelvic bones. The 
chart would indicate that she was a 25-egg type hen. 

The next hen may be a six-finger-abdomen hen, as in Fig. 
17; she may be in good condition, and her pelvic bones may 
be lli inches thick as in Fig. 31. I hear the reader say, 
"What breed of a hen has pelvic bones as thick as that? or 
do you mean that both of her pelvic bones are 13-4 inches 
thick, counting them both together?" No; I mean that each 
one of her pelvic bones is \]/i inches thick. Counting the 
bone, gristle, fat, and flesh (flank), both of the pelvic bones 
would be 23^ inches thick. When we speak of pelvic bones 
being so and so thick, we always mean one of them. And as 
to breed, this hen is a Single Comb White Leghorn; she is the 
typical beef type. You will see by Chart 6 that she will lay 
practically nothing; and here I will explain this matter. 

A man once brought me a two-and-a-half-year-old hen that 
he had trap-nested for two years, and asked me to tell him how 
many eggs she had laid her first laying-year. I told him she 



64 THE CALL OF THE HEN. 

had never laid an egg. Her abdomen was six fingers , she was in 
good condition, and her pelvic bones were Ij^ inches thick. 

CHART 6. 

Six-finger Abdomen. 

Nervous Temperament. 

Vi6 pelvic bone 280 eggs 

}^ pelvic bone 265 eggs 

Vi6 pelvic bone 250 eggs 

3<4 pelvic bone 235 eggs 

Vi6 pelvic bone 220 eggs 

Sanguine Temperament. 

^ pelvic bone 205 eggs 

Vi6 pelvic bone 190 eggs 

^2 pelvic bone 175 eggs 

Vi6 pelvic bone 160 eggs 

% pelvic bone 145 eggs 

Bilious Temperament. 

"/i6 pelvic bone 130 eggs 

^ pelvic bone 115 eggs 

^Vi6 pelvic bone 100 eggs 

J/$ pelvic bone 85 eggs 

^Vi6 pelvic bone 70 eggs 

Lymphatic Temperament. 

1-in. pelvic bone 55 eggs 

lVi6 pelvic bone 40 eggs 

1 y^ pelvic bone 25 eggs 

P/i6 pelvic bone 10 eggs 

l}4 pelvic bone 



He cautioned me to be careful, as he had always trap-nested 
his hens, and his record showed how many eggs they had laid. 
I replied, "If that is the case, her record shows that she has 
never laid an egg." He said no more then, but brought me 
another hen, asking me how many she would lay. I examined 
her for capacity. I found she was a six-finger-abdomen hen; 
her condition was good; her pelvic bones were Vie of an inch 
thick; they were both alike as to thickness. I questioned him 
as to how he had fed her, and if she had been sick her first 
laying year. As he is one of the best breeders in the United 
States, I could depend on him knowing what he was talking 
about. I asked him then to take off his hat. I could see by 
the shape of his head he was a strictly honest man. I then told 
him that I had never raised that breed of hens, but if it was a 
Leghorn, it might lay 280 eggs its first year, and if a Plymouth 



THE CALL OF THE HEN. 65 

Rock, it might lay 270. He said her trap-nested record showed 
she laid 276 eggs from the time she commenced to lay in her 
pullet year until she had laid one year. "That's all right," I 
replied; "but what about the first hen we examined?" "We 
have never found any in the trap-nest from her," he said," but 
she might be in the habit of laying in the yard." And as he was 
offered $1,000 for her, he was very anxious to get some chickens 
from her. I explained to him that while most typical l)eef 
hens could be made to lay a very small number of eggs in the 
spring wlx^n the crows laid, by feeding them a little lean meat 
and shrunken wheat and bran on a grass plot of white clover 
(if the ])lossoms of the white clover are clipped off), that his 
hen could not be made to lay, as she was a barren hen, as in- 
dicated by the rigid cord that connected Ijoth of the pelvic 
bones togetlicr, thus indicating that Nature never intended 
her to lay. I could name a number of professors and physicians 
that have told me they have discovered the same condition 
after they had taken my lessons. 

The r(nider will please bear in mind that the two pelvic 
I)ones of a hen are not always of the same thickness. Some 
hens may have one pelvic l)()ne thicker than tiie other; when 
this is the case, add the two together and half of the number 
will l)e the right thickness to judge by. For instance, if one 
pelvic bone was % of an inch and the other one was j/ii of an 
inch, the added thickness would be ^^ of an inch; dividing this 
would give you Vie of an inch as the thickness of one pelvic bone. 
Where one bone is thicker than the other, the thinnest one is 
on the left side of the hen. 

Our next hen may be another six-finger-aljdomen hen, as 
in Fig. 17, she may be in good condition, as in Fig. 19, and her 
pelvic bones may be }/s of an inch thick, as in Fig. 25; she 
would be a 265-egg type hen. 

Our next hen may be a six-finger-abdomen hen in good 
condition; pelvic bones ^ inch; she would read six fingers 
abdomen; good condition; pelvic bones % of an inch. By 
consulting Chart 6, we will find this is a 205-egg type hen. 

Our next hen may be a six-finger-abdomen hen, in good 
condition; 3^-inch pelvic bones; this hen will be a 175-egg type 
hen. 

Our next hen may be a six-finger-abdomen hen, in good con- 
dition; pelvic bones 1 inch. We look on Chart 6, and find that 
1-inch pelvic bones indicate the 55-egg type hen. 



66 THE CALL OF THE HEN. 

Our next hen may be a four-finger-abdomen hen; she may 
be two fingers out of condition, as in Fig. 21, and her pelvic 
bones may be Vie of an inch thick. We would read her as four 
fingers abdomen; two fingers out of condition; this would 
make her a six-finger-abdomen hen if in condition. We look 
on Chart G at Vie-inch pelvic bone, and find our last hen is a 
250-egg type hen, if in condition, and it is up to us to put 
her in condition and keep her there as nearly as possible. 

I will admit it is a hard proposition to keep the non-setting 
typical-egg type hen in condition, but the man that comes the 
nearest doing so is the best feeder. I will have more to say 
in regard to the matter of condition in the chapter on Judging 
Utility Fowls at the Poultry Shows. This work is a matter of 
line upon line, and I must necessarily repeat the same matter 
in some respects time after time. But as this is an educational 
more than an entertaining proposition, I hope that my readers 
will bear with me. 

As I have said before, there are three types of hens. The 
hen listed on Chart 1 as Vie-inch pelvic bone is a typical egg- 
type hen, because all she consumes over bodily maintenance 
goes to the production of eggs. The hen listed as ^-inch 
pelvic bone is a dual-purpose hen; half of her vitality is used 
in producing eggs and half in producing meat. The hen listed 
as ^-inch is a typical meat-type hen; all she consumes goes 
to the production of meat, except what she uses in bodily main- 
tenance. The hen listed as Vie-inch pelvic bone on Chart 2 is a 
typical egg-type hen; the hen listed as ^-inch pelvic bone on 
same chart is a dual-purpose hen; and the one listed as ^4-inch 
pelvic bones is a typical meat-type hen; the same rule follows 
in all the charts. All the hens listed as Vie-inch pelvic bone 
are typical egg-type hens, and they can't be made to pay as a 
meat proposition. The hens listed in the center of each chart 
are the dual-purpose hens; they can be used as an egg and as 
a meat proposition. The hens listed on the bottom of each 
chart are the meat-type hens. Nature has fitted them for the 
production of flesh, arid there is no human energy that can 
change them to a paying egg proposition. 

Between the above three distinct types there are combina- 
tions of each adjoining type. This allows sufficient latitude 
for the preference of each individual breeder. A person can 
breed the typical egg-type hen and cock bird with pelvic bones 
V16 of an inch thick. If he thinks this type is too delicate, he 



THE CALL OF THE HEN. 67 

can breed from the Vie-inch pelvic bone stock; this is my fa- 
vorite type; the hen of this type is better able to withstand 
the vicissitudes of the poultry-yard than her finer-bred sisters. 
I will have more to say along this line in the chapter on Broilers. 
I think we have given sufficient examples in Chapters III., IV., 
v., VI. and VII. to enable the reader to examine a hen so he 
may be al^le to arrive at her approximate value for the purpose 
he wishes to use her for. 

In a previous chapter we have said there is occasionally 
found a hen seven fingers al^domen. If the reader finds one, 
he can score her by Chart 6 and add 15 eggs to the number 
indicated. For instance, if the hen is in good condition and 
measures seven fingers alxlomen and her pelvic l^ones are ^ 
inch thick, Chart 6 would indicate she is a 205-egg type bird; 
we then add 15 eggs to the 205, which gives the hen 220-egg 
capacity. If she is five fingers abdomen and two fingers out of 
condition, we call her seven fingers abdomen, and proceed as 
above, which gives us the same results. 

There are two other matters I wish to call the attention 
of the reader to in this place. One is, that I have found hens 
occasionally that laid a great deal better by the trap-nest 
than they scored by the Hogan test, but it was owing to a 
mistake made in measuring their abdomens, owing to the rear 
of the breast-bone turning up, sometimes almost an inch over 
normal shape, thus indicating a smaller al)domen than reall}^ 
was the case. The other matter is a more serious one — in 
fact, very serious in some flocks. It is the bagging down of 
the abdomen over the rear of the breast-bone. Every hen 
used in the l)reoding-pen should be examined for this defect, for 
if one of them is bred from, she is almost sure to transmit her 
weak ovarian system to her off; p ring. 8ome of these hens will 
make remarkable egg records for a year or so, then will never 
lay another egg; and again, the eggs are liable to be very 
infertile and more or less thin-shelled; and if you have great 
numbers of hens, you can hardly tell when these hens stop lay- 
ing for good, unless you trap-nest them, as their pelvic bones 
do not close up as readily as hens in normal condition. 

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure in this 
case, as it is very easy to prevent all this trouble. I meet hun- 
dreds of the above hens in my visits to poultry plants, but never 
have a case in my yards. I examine all my pullets when 
al)Out a year old for possible breeders. If a hen satisfies me a - 



68 THE CALL OP THE HEN. 

to Capacity, Type, and Prepotency, I then hold her as if I were 
testmg her for capacity, except that I hold her by the right leg 
only. I then lay my hand on her breast, so that it (my hand) 
will conform to her shape, and draw it slowly along her breast- 
bone (or keel) from front to rear. When my hand reaches the 
rear, if I feel the slightest indication of her abdomen dropping 
the least bit below the rear of the breast-bone, I reject the hen 
as a breeder, and thereby save myself a world of troul)le in 
the future. 

CHAPTER IX. 



Prepotency. 

We will take up in this chapter Prepotency, the science of 
breeding poultry, so that we can breed with a definite knowedge 
of what we are doing, and not leave it to intuition or chance. 
It is an old saying that "like begets like"; this seems to be 
true in some cases, but seems not to be true in other cases. 
Students of human nature can readily see where it has appar- 
ently failed. Some children will resemble and act like one 
parent and some will resemble and act like the other parent; 
then again, some children will be like neither of the parents. 
Breeders of horses and cattle are well aware of the variations 
in ofTspring from the type and characteristics of sire and dam. 
It is more through persistency in breeding than the general 
knowledge of any scientific principle that we have succeeded 
in producing the grand types of animals we s(^e at our State 
fairs. The l)reeding of poultry is no exception to the above 
rale. While some breeders have good success in breeding for 
the desired type of bird, whether for fancy, for eggs, or for flesh, 
others will have very poor success. 

The purpose of this chapter is to explain to th'> breeder 
who has had poor success a method that will enable him to 
breed with the full understanding as to what he is doing. It 
is a well-known fact among the clothing trade that if a woolen 
manufacturer has a sample of cloth presented to him, he can 
manufacture thousands of yards that will be an exact dupli- 
cate of the sample. The same is true in other industries. But 
suppose the reader gives an order to one of our well-known 
poultry-) )reeders for 1,000 pvdlets, to be delivered at four 
months old; these pullets to be housed, fed, and cared for as the 
breeder designates, and to approximately lay a certain number 



THE CALL OF THE PIEN. 69 

of eggs their first laying year; how many breech-rs do you sup- 
pose could fill the order? Until a majority of them can do so 
the poultry industry will not l)e on a business basis, but will be 
more or less of a gamble. 

I have said that seemingly like does not beget like in 
some cases. We will take, for instance, a hen that is five fingers 
abdomen, in good condition, ^^-inch pelvic bones. She will 
scale uj) as a 205-egg type hen. We will mate up a pen of 
these hens with a 205-egg type cockerel or cock bird ; we raise 
100 pullets from this mating and they may scale 175-egg type. 
We then say, "Like does not produce like." Here is where we 
make a mistake. In one sense we are right, in another we are 
wrong. Nature makes no mistakes. We have mated 205-(>gg 
tyix^ male and female, and we get as a result 175-egg-type 
product. That 's as plain as the nose on one's facp, and we 
throw up our hands in despair and say, "It's all luck and 
chance." Another party mates up the same type of birds and 
gets a lot of pullets that average 210 eggs their first laying year; 
still another party mates up the same type of birds and does 
not get a chick. 

The reader may smile, but this is no dream. A number 
of such cases have com(> under my ol)servation. One case was 
that of a i:)rofessor in one of the Southern California public 
institutions. He had a pvn of twelve Black Minorcas, heatled 
by a spknidid-looking cock bird; also a pen of twelve Anda- 
lusiuns. He said there was something peculiar about these hens, 
and he wanted to know if I could detect it. I tested all the 
Andalusians,and told him they should average 140 eggs their 
first laying year, and I would expect twelve eggs out of every 
thirteen to l^e fertile. After testing the Minorcas, I told him 
they would average about 160-egg type, but if they were mine, 
I would not set any of their eggs while they were mated to 
the present cock bird, because I would not t^xpect them to 
hatch, and if they did liatch, they would be degenerates. He 
said, "This is the second season I have bred from the birds; I 
always get good hatches from the Andalusians; 1)ut, although 1 
see the rooster serve the hens, I have never Ijeen able to hatch 
a chicken from the Minorca pen." I replied, "He serves the 
hens out of sympathy." 

Another case was a Barred Rock hen, the only one a neigh- 
bor liad in a small flock of Houdans. He called me one day, 
saying he had a remarkable pullet at his place, and he wanted 



70 THE CALL OF THE HEN. 

me to call over and tell him how many eggs she would lay 
her first laying year. She had been laying two months, and 
he was keeping her record. I went with him, tested the hen, 
and told him she might lay 250 eggs, but I did not think that 
any of them would hatch. After her first laying year was up, 
he showed me her record. She had laid 258 eggs, and although 
he had a good Barred Rock cock bird with her, and had set a 
number of settings under hens, he failed to hatch a single chick. 
I could cite a great number of such cases. 

In the first of these cases the fault was with the male bird ; 
in the last case the fault was with the hen; in both cases the 
trouble was caused by a lack of prepotency (amativeness), 
and not through any defect in the anatomy of the birds. 
Everything in the universe is governed by certain immutable 
laws. If we understand these laws and can discover a way to 
control them, we may be able to use them to our advantage. 
Does the reader ever stop to consider these matters? What, in 
your opinion, is the greatest effort of Nature? The writer thinks 
it is the effort to reproduce the species in all their different forms 
of animate and inanimate life. If the case were otherwise, this 
earth would be barren of grass and shrubs, of flowers and 
fruits, and of every living, moving thing on land and in the 
sea. What a desolate old world this would be with only bare 
dirt and rocks and water! And when we consider what a won- 
derful thing life is, can we doubt that Nature has made some 
extraordinary provisions for controlling its inception? In the 
wild state the survival of the fittest prevented degeneracy of 
the species, but under domestication birds cannot follow their 
instincts; and their owners should be familiar with Nature's 
laws in order to be able to breed intelligently. 

When the writer was twelve years of age he took up the 
study of human nature, and later had help from that great 
teacher, Professor O. S. Fowler. Years of practice in dis- 
secting and in anatomy and in the study of the skulls of animals 
and birds gave me the opportunity to study the construction 
of the different skulls and classify them as to the known habits 
of the birds or animals under consideration. The knowledge 
gained in this way was of inestimable value in later research 
in the selection and breeding of poultry. I am positive that 
without this early training I never could have accomplished 
what I have. 



THE CALL OF THE HEN. 7 1 

After raising my first lot of Leghorns in 1869, I decided to 
clis pose of all breeds but the Leghorns and Light Brahmas. I 
said I would raise Leghorns for eggs and Brahmas for meat. 
Up to that time I had not paid much attention to the individual 
laying qualities of the birds. Experience had taught me that 
the Light Brahma, when fed right and of the right age, made a 
delicious table-fowl, and I was led to believe the Leghorns 
were all great layers. That was a good many years ago; and 
we have made wonderful discoveries and progress in science 
and the arts since that time. The reader can imagine my sur- 
prise when I found by experience that some of my Leghorns 
laid very few eggs and laid them only in the spring months; 
others laid large numbers and laid late in the fall and early 
winter. In those days we had no cold-storage plants, and 
while eggs were very cheap in the summer, they were very dear 
in the winter, and I decided to experiment with my Leghorns, 
with a view to getting more eggs in the winter. After a few 
years of study and experiment, I mated the best egg-type birds 
and from some pens got good results, from other pens not so 
good, and from still others very poor results. My previous 
studies in anatomy had enabled me to select the matings from 
birds that were all of the same type, and I expected to raise 
a lot of poultry that would be duplicates of their parents, as 
far as their egg-laying qualities were concerned. But after 
numerous experiments in mating the 180-egg type cock bird 
with 180-egg type hens, I found I could not depend on getting 
definite results. 

Some are born rich, some are born handsome, and some 
are born lucky. The writer was born with none of these gifts, 
but with a combination of faculties that compelled to inven- 
tion, to wander and toil and delve in the fields, the byways, 
and the mines of the mysterious. These researches, with the 
aid received by studying the pioneers in the same lines of in- 
vestigation, led to the discovery, as the writer thinks, of the 
fundamental principle that underlies the reproduction of the 
species. After a number of matings that were more or less 
discouraging failures, I decided to look to the brain of the bird 
as the seat of the cause of a great many of the variations be- 
tween the characteristics of the offspring and those of the 
parents. I had previously demonstrated by experiment that 
environment had an influence on the shaping of the skull of 
the birds. By focusing on this subject the skull-knowledge I 



72 THE CALL OF THE HEN. 

had gainetl in tlu' previous nine years, I was led to think that 
brain governed most of the functions of the Ijody, and if so, 
why not the reproductive function? I reasoned that as I 
liatl mated up several pens of the same type of hens with the 
same type of male birds, and that as tliere was no difference in 
their temperaments, that the hens all looked alike, all weighed 
alike, and were all in the same condition — or, in other words, 
they were all in perfect condition (to be more explicit, the 
hens were three fingers abdomen, pelvic bone Vie of an inch 
thick; all hens were in good condition; the cock l)irds were two- 
fingers abdomens, in normal condition, and i)elvic bones Vie of 
an inch thick; all hens were alike and all cock birds were alike, 
antl all were al)out a year old) ; that there must be something 
apart from the anatomy and physiology of the hen that gov- 
erned or in some measure controlk>d the reproductive func- 
tions. As I had exhausted all my resources in the above lines, 
I was very reluctantly obliged to enter a new field of research — 
the field of Phrenology. I killed the cock birds that had given 
us the ])est results, Ixjilcd tlunr skulls until free of fiesh, and 
found them as in No. 1, Fig. 35. The skulls of the cock birds 
that gave the next best results were like No. 2, Fig. 35, and the 
skulls of the cock birds that gave the poorest results were like 
No. 4, Fig. 35. 

The arrows A, B, C, and D show the base of the l)rain. If 
A were continued u})ward, it wovdtl })ass tlirough the jn'ojection 
li of an inch from the end; if B were continued, it would pass 
through the projection al)out }/s of an inch fi'om the end; 
while C would l)e at the extreme end of the projection, and D 
would pass outside the skull. The part of the skull where the 
arrows 1, 2, 3, 4 point contains the rear lobe of the l)rain, and 
examination will show that the develojMnent of this portion of 
the brain corr(>si)onds to the shape of the skull at tliis point. 

And right here is w^here we were on the point of the second 
great secret in breeding that would verify the saying that 
"Like begets like." The first discovery was, that if we wished 
to raise pullets that would l)e good layers, we would have to 
mate good-laying hens with the same type of male bird, and 
not with the meat type — that is, the male birds would have 
to be of the same temperament, of the same anatomy, and of 
the same physiology as the hen. I found that if I had a hen 
that laid 180 eggs by the trap-nest, and if I wanted to raise a 
lot of pullets that would average 180 eggs, I could not depend 
on the trap-nest to aid me any farther than to tell me the 



THE CALL OF TIIP: HEN. 



/>S 




Fi(i. 35 — Tlivec degi-ees of aniativeness (otherwise called "propo-teney ") 

numlxT of c^'ss a hen laid, what particular eg^s sh(^ laid, and 
the ])r()p;('iiy of each hen, both male and female. I also foiiiul 
great variations in type in the mature cockerels from t^ich in- 
dividual hen, wliich wv considered was due to tiie difference in 



74 THE CALL OF THE HEN. 

type of the male bird and the difference in vitahty of one or 
both birds at different times during the breeding season ; some- 
times the hen, at otlier times the cock bird, transmitting their 
characteristics. When I was assured of this through numerous 
experiments, I reasoned that my failures were because the 
male birds were of a different type from the hens, and when I 
had demonstrated that the male birds were of a different 
physiology by practice and scientific measures, and mated ac- 
cordingly, I flattered myself 'with the assurance that I had 
discovered all that was necessary in order to breed poultry 
intelligently. But after more experiments I was not wholly 
satisfied with results; and as I had adopted the motto, "Like 
begets like," I reasoned that although the birds we had 
mated were alike, as far as we could see, the remaining differ- 
ence must be some place where I had failed to look for it. My 
knowledge of the different variations in form of the skulls of 
animals and birds of the same breed, together with the knowl- 
edge I possessed of human skulls, led me to investigate the 
head as the only remaining factor in the problem. When I re- 
duced this proposition to a method, and when I was able to 
measure its potentiality, then I assembled the hens and cock 
birds, mating the 180-egg type hens and the 180-egg type cock 
birds, each bird with the same degree of prepotency. Then, 
and not until then, had I ever knowingly mated like to like. 
For years, like many others, I thought I had mated males 
to like females, but I was mistaken. And here is where I 
discovered my second great secret. After this I mated like 
to like more intelligently, and the results were more satisfactory. 

I consider the selecting of the male birds for mating along 
anatomical and physiological lines, together with the proper 
understanding and use of the faculty that governs the repro- 
ductive function, as the greatest discoveries ever made in the 
poultry industry. 

The reader may think there is very little difference in the 
skulls in Fig. 35. If you add an inch to the length of a man's 
legs, it does not seem to make much difference in his height, 
but if you add an inch to the end of his nose, it would make a 
great difference in his looks. I found this expansion on the 
back of the skull corresponded to the faculty of amativeness 
in the human family. I found that when it was large in both 
male and female the parents possessed the ability to transmit 
their predominating characteristics to their offspring. If the 



THE CALL OF THE HEN. 



75 



parents were fancy birds, their progeny would in some cases 
excel their parents in feather, vigor, and other good qualities. 
If the parents were of the egg type, some of the chicks would 
be as good and some better layers and more vigorous than 
the parents: if of the meat type, the progeny would be of 
a stronger constitution, of a quicker growth, and assimilate 
their food better — in a word, if both parents have this fac- 
ulty (called "prepotency" by some) large, the chicks will be 
more likely to be equal to, and some will excel, their parents 
along the lines in which the parents predominate. If the 
parents have the faculty small, the chicks will not be so 
good as the parent stock, but will degenerate along the lines 
that the parents excel in. If a hen is a 200-egg type and she 
has this faculty small, she will be just as valuable as an egg- 
producer as if she had the faculty large, but she will be of no 
value as a breeder; she will be an old maid from choice, and her 
eggs will not be fertile, if she has the faculty small enough. If 
the male bird has it small, his eggs will not hatch well, and if 
small, they will not hatch at all. I have found a few cases 
where the cock bird had the faculty of prepotency (ama- 
tiveness) large and failed to fertilize the eggs, but the cases 
were very rare, and I attribute it to weakened or diseased 
nerves; as, for instance, the nerves of the teeth or sciatic nerve 
in the human being. 




Fig. 36 — Holding hen ready to put in sack. 
Fig. 36 shows how to hold a hen before putting her in a 
sack to examine her for prepotency. 



76 



THE CALL OF THE HEN. 




Fig. 37 — Holding legs with right hand and gathering sack around 
legs with left hand. 

Fig. 37 shows how to put her in the sack, liolding legs with 
right hand, with back of hen against Ijottom of sack, and 
gathering sack around legs with left hand. 




**"«!*^^ ..^-^ 



Fig. 3S — Tying sack around legs so hen cannot move wliiie examining 
her for prepotency. This method of holding the bird is only necessary 
while you are learning. If there is someone to hold the hen for you, it 
would be quicker. When you become skillful, you can hold the bird as in 
Fig. 43. 

Fig. 38 shows tying sack around legs so that she cannot 

move while examining her for prepotency. (Cut a little off of 

the corner of the sack — just enough to get her head through, 

Hen in Fig. 38 is too far out of the sack.) 



THE CALL OF THE HEN. 77 

The l:)(\st wa}^ for a beginner to Icnrn how to handle a hen 
for prepotency is to select a hen you wish for the tal)le. Cut 
the corner off of a sunny snck; hold her as in Fig. .30; put your 
hen in sack and tie her, as in Figs. 37 and 38; then make a hook 
of wire or a hair-pin, attach it to a string with small weight or 
stone; hang hen up against barn or shed, head down, back 
against Iniikling; take long-bladed pocket or other knife with 
sharj) ]")oint, insert in hen's mouth, and draw across the roof of 
the mouth at the l)ack of the l)ra.in at the junction of the neck, 
severing the blood-veins, then immediately force the knife 
through the roof of the mouth into the lirain. The knife 
should be forced well into the bi-ain, ^^hich will sever the 
nerv(^s, and the bird will feel no pain; then insert hook in the 
nostril, and the weight will hold the neck straight. The hen 
should bleed freely. After bkxxling has stopped, clean nu uth 
and surrounding parts of blood, and place hen in some con- 
venient place — on a box or coop. The thumb-rail on the left 
hand and nail on the forefinger of the right hand slicukl be 
longer than the thumb and finger, so the flesh en end of thumb 
and finger will not prevent the nail from entering the slight 
depression between the skull and neck. 

We will suppose the reader has handled the hen as sug- 
gested al)Ove. Lay the dead hen as in Fig. 39; take hold of 
coml) or head and })ull neck up with right liand, and while 
holding head up the neck will be stretched out. Turn tlie 
head down with right hand, so the back of the head will jioint 
up and beak will point down as much as possil)le. This will 
make the projection of the brain (arrow 1, Fig. 35) ai)iiear more 
prominent, so it will be easier to locate it; then draw ball of 
thumb of left hand down on head until j^ou feel back of skull ; 
when you feel back of skull with ball of thumb, then turn first 
joint of thumb down until thumb-nail fits in between end of 
skull and neck and well up against base of brain; then, while 
holding left hand and thumb as in Fig. 39, put forefinger of right 
hand at base of brain behind the ear, as in Fig. 39, between the 
neck and the skull and against the skull behind the ear, as in Fig. 
39. The ear can readily be discovered by lifting up its hairy cov- 
ering. The thumb-nail must be held perfectly straight across 
the neck, as in Fig. 39, and not sideways; and the forefinger 
must be held perfectly at right angles with the thumb, or tlie 
length of projection (arrow 1, Fig. 35) from the base of the 
brain (arrow 4, Fig. 35) cannot l^e measured accurately. 



78 



THE CALL OF THE HEN. 




Fig. 39 — Showing thumb K of an inch ahead of forefinger; indicating 
hen is totally lacking in prepotency. (See Skull No. 4, Fig. 35.) 



The reader will notice that my thumb-nail is ahead of my 
forefinger-nail in Fig. 39 ; this indicates that this hen is wholly 
lacking in the ability to transmit any redeeming qualities to 
her offspring, also that she has no desire for offspring. If this 
were a male bird, the eggs from his matings would be infertile. 
Fig. 40 shows thumb on line with forefinger. Matings from 
this type of head would not produce very fertile eggs, and the 
progeny would deteriorate each year if they were bred from 
stock with heads like this. If the parents were 200-egg type, 
their egg-yield and vitality would be reduced each generation 
of breeding. If they were of the beef type, their vitahty and 
ability to produce flesh economically would diminish with each 
generation. If they were a fancy type, the breeder would be 
up against a stone wall of discouraging experiments. 



THE CALL OF THE HEN. 



79 




Fig. 40 — ih iiii ' ' a itli t'urefiiiger; indicating she has prepotency 
smaU. (See Skull No. 3, Fig. 35.) 

I would advise the reader to take special notice of Fig. 
43, as this cut shows the method of determining prepotency 
plainer than any of the others. 

Fig. 41 shows a hen with prepotency full — i. e., thumb 3^ 
of an inch behind forefinger. Sometimes a poultryman will be 
lucky enough to mate up a lot of pens of the right type for his 
purpose with heads like Figs. 41, 42, and 43. His business pros- 
pers, and his neighbors call him "lucky." While others are 
going bankrupt raising poultry, he holds his own and is making 
a good living. Figs. 42 and 43 show a hen with an excellent 
head for breeding purposes. The thumb in this case is ]/i of 
an inch behind the forefinger. If this hen is mated to a male 
bird of the same type and prepotency, her eggs will be very 
fertile, and a large number of the progeny will be equal to and 



8o 



THE CALL OF THE HEN. 




Fig. 41 — Sliowing thumb H of an inch behind forefinger; indicating 
hen has prepotency full. (See Skull No. 2, Fig. 35.) 



some will excel the parent stock in the lines that predominate 
in the parents. By selecting these few specimens each season 
for breeding, it is possible to breed a highly valuable tj'pe in 
the course of time. Fig. 43 shows how to hold a bird be- 
tween the knees after you become proficient in testing the 
head while the bird is in a sack. 




Fig. 42 — Sliowino; thumli '4 of an inch behind forefinger; indicating 
hen has prepotency large. (See Skull No. 1, Fig. 35.) 




Fin. 43 — Showing how to liold bird between knees after you become 
proficient in testing liead while bird is in sack. 



82 THE CALL OF THE HEN. 

CHAPTER X. 



Testing Hens on a Large Scale, Using Charts 44 and 45. 

I will describe in this chapter how I cull hens when we 
have large numbers of them, as we have in poultry plants in 
California. I shall take it for granted that the reader has no 
method of selecting the good from the poor layers, except, 
perhaps, the "Walter Hogan System" or some of its pirated 
forms that are now used extensively in all parts of the civ- 
ilized world, and which is based on the theory that the value of 
a hen as an egg-producer depends on the relative distance 
apart of her pelvic bones and the thinness of same. We will 
suppose the reader has 300 hens; one lot are about a year 
and four months old, another lot are about two years and 
four months old, and another lot are about three years and four 
months old. Each lot has been kept in separate yards, so 
there can be no mistake in regard to their ages, or they have 
been toe-punched or otherwise marked. We notice more or 
less feathers lying around the yard, thus indicating the season 
of the year when moulting is near at hand. Everything else 
being equal, the poorest hen moults first, and if she is a very 
poor layer, she will stop laying when she begins to moult and will 
not lay again until the crows lay in the spring. We consider it 
is about time to cull out the poor layers and send them to 
market. 

The next thing that comes to mind is the question, 
"What is a poor layer?" That all depends on the price you 
get for the eggs, the price of feed, houses, etc. I raised poultry 
in Todd County, Minnesota, in 1886 and 1887, and sold good 
lumber at the saw-mill for $5.00 per 1,000 feet. Wheat was 
about 1 cent per pound, and wheat screenings for chicken feed 
could be had for the hauling. It is very evident that a poorer 
class of layers might have been kept at a greater profit when 
supplies were at that low price than can be profitably kept when 
supplies are as high-priced as they are at the present time of 
writing (June, 1913). So the reader can see that the matter of 
the profitable hen is a local matter. At this writing you can 
buy nearly two bushels of wheat in some parts of Minnesota for 
what you will pay for one in California. I was told a few days 
ago that you could buy twice as much oats at the present time 



THE CALL OF THE HEN. 



83 



in Minnesota as you can in California for the same money. 

When studying Charts 44 and 45 we see there are certain 
figures lined off from the rest; this is for the purpose of aid- 
ing the reader at a certain time each year to select the poor 
layers from the good ones without using the charts, thereby 
saving the time necessary to look over the chart and classify 
each hen. 

Charts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6, as the reader will learn by 
bearing in mind the following instructions, need be used only 
to determine the laying-score of the individual hen. 





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84 



THE CALL OF THE HEN. 



The first figures underlined in Chart 44 are in the column 
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to Vi6-inch pelvic bone. The second are in the column indi- 
cating four fingers abdomen, from Vi6-ii^<^h pelvic bone to Vie" 
inch pelvic bone. The third are five fingers abdomen, from 
Vi6-inch pelvic bone to Vie-in^'h pelvic bone. The fourth are six 
fingers abdomen, from Vie-inch pelv.'c bone to ^Vitj-iii<'h pelvic 
bone. 

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THE CALL OF THE HEN. 85 

the yard whcn-o the sixteen-months-okl hens are penned. We 
will suppose that the hens are all closed in the house or houses. 
We put catching-coop in position as in Fig. 2, and drive hens 
in same as in Fig. 1. When there are enough hens in the 
coop, shut down slide-door that holds them in. In this case it 
is necessary to keep only four fingers in mind; any four you 
prefer will do. 

Here in California we use the figures 5, 7, 9, and 11 for the 
hen sixteen months old; this means a three-finger-abdomen 
hen, Vic-ii^ch pelvic bone; four-finger-abdomen hen, Vie-inch 
l^elvic l)one; five-finger-abdomen hen, 7i6-inch pelvic bone; six- 
finger-abdomen hen, 'Yi6-inch pelvic bone. Anything below this 
line (that is, any hen having a thicker bone in the different 
classes) goes to market. For the twenty-eight-months-old 
hens we assume that they are hatched in March and sold in 
the summer. We use the figures 3, 5, 7, and 9 for the three-, 
four-, five- and six-finger-abdomen hens. For the forty- 
months-old hens we use the figures 1, S, 5, and 7 for the 
three-, four-, fiv(^- and six-finger-abdomen hens. You perceive 
that the older the hen the greater the numl)er of eggs she must 
have laid in her first year. Here in California we keep large 
numl^ers of hens, and in this way we can sort out tha market 
here each year in a short time, as we do not have to stop 
and figure out the percentage of loss tor each year of age, as 
these figures come near enough to suit our purpose. If they 
do not suit the local market, the reader can use any figures 
that will. 

I shall give a few examples only to show how we would 
proceed to cull out the hens. The reader must be familiar 
with the general principles of capacity, condition, and type. 
He should by this time have familiarized himself with the 
charts. Now, if he prepares the figures as I have directed, he 
will experience no difficulty in determining in a moment just 
where and what to do with each individual hen. We establish 
a certain standard of production for the first laying season, 
in order to know how long to keep her. You may take 80 eggs 
for one season, 120 eggs for two seasons, and 150 eggs for three 
seasons, or any other set that suits your local conditions. 
Here we take about 120, 150, and 180 eggs as the standard; 
that is, a hen must 1)0 able to lay about this number in her first 
lajdng year in order to stay with us for two, three, or four 
seasons. With this explanation, we shall proceed to cull, 



86 THE CALL OF THE HEN. 

putting into the shipping-coop all hens that fall below our 
standard, and dropping in the yard where we stand any that 
we desire to keep. 

Now, take a hen out of the catching-coop as in Fig. 3, and 
hold her as near as possible as in Fig. 5. Place hand on ab- 
domen. She may be one finger abdomen, in good condition; 
her pelvic bone may be Vie of an inch thick; her capacity is 
three dozen eggs her first laying-year. She has laid all these 
eggs and will lay no more until the next spring when the crows 
lay, and eggs are cheap; so we decide to put this hen in the 
shipping-crate, to be sent to market. 

We take another hen from the catching-coop, and go through 
the same process. She may be a two-finger-abdomen hen, in 
good condition; her pelvic bones Vie of an inch thick; this in- 
dicates a hen that may lay eight dozen of eggs her first laying- 
year. As a rule, when hens are so fed and cared for, they will 
lay their maximum number of eggs their first laying year; they 
will, as a rule, lay about 15 per cent less each year after, pro- 
vided they are given the same care and feed. In this case the 
hen in hand might lay about 85 eggs; if you think that will 
pay you, let the hen drop out of your hands into the yard where 
you are "Standing; if you think it will not pay to keep her, put 
her in the shipping-crate for the market. 

The next hen may be two fingers abdomen, one finger out 
of condition, as in Fig. 20, with pelvic bones M of an inch thick. 
If this hen's comb and wattles are red and the hen is strong 
and active, being one finger out of condition indicates that 
she is not being properly cared for, either in food or environ- 
ment, or both; in the condition she is in at present, if contin- 
ued the whole year, she might lay about 69 eggs, while if kept 
in normal condition, she might lay 138 eggs. (See Chart 3.) 
So we will call her a good hen, and drop her. 

The next hen may be three fingers abdomen, Vie-inch pelvic 
bone, and in normal condition. If this hen were in Petaluma, 
we would drop her, as she would be a paying hen. By re- 
ferring to the chart, you will see that she is a 124-egg type hen. 
You must bear in mind constantly that a thick bone in a hen 
of small abdominal capacity would mean a practical non- 
producer, while the same thickness of bone in a hen of much 
larger capacity would mean simply a more beefy hen. 

The next hen may be three fingers abdomen, in normal 
condition, as in Fig. 19, and pelvic bone ^ of an inch thick. 



THE CALL OF THE HEN. 87 

This hen has the same abdominal depth as the preceding, but 
lier pelvic bones being ^^ of an inch thick would make her a 
110-egg type hen, and with us no hen that lays 120 eggs pays to 
keep two seasons. We put this hoi in the shipping-crate for 
market, as it will not pay to keep her any longer, if in Peta- 
luma. She will not pay for her board after this time and 
leave enough profit. 

The next hen may be four fingers abdomen, in normal con- 
dition, and Vi6-iiic'h pelvic l>one. She, being a 130-egg type 
hen, it will pay to keep her another year, so we drop her. 

The next hen may be four fingers abdomen, in normal con- 
dition, and 3^2-incli pelvic Ijones; this hen will lay approxi- 
mately 115 eggs her first laying year, but not enough her second 
year; so we put her in the shipping-crate for market. 

The next hen may be a five-finger-abdomen hen and in 
good condition; 7i6-inch pelvic bone. She is a 130-egg type 
hen, so we drop her. While this hen has a pelvic bone 7i6 of 
an inch thick, she has the abdominal capacity to supply herself 
with food enough to lay a profitable number of eggs and put 
on flesh at the same time. 

The next hen is five fingers abdomen, in normal condition, 
and ^-inch pelvic bones; this is a 115-egg type hen, so we 
put her in the shipping-crate. The hen we had just before 
this one was kept; but when we come to the ^-inch pelvic 
bone, we decide that we have reached the lowest limit of egg- 
production. 

The next hen may be six fingers abdomen, in normal con- 
dition, and 'Vi6-inch pelvic bone; she will be a 130-egg type hen, 
so we drop her. 

The next hen may be six fingers abdomen, in normal con- 
dition; pelvic bones % of an inch thick; she will be a 115-egg 
type hen, so we will put her in the shipping-crate. 

The next hen may be three fingers abdomen, three fingers 
out of condition, and 3^-inch pelvic bones. If her comb and 
wattles are pale and bloodless, she is no doubt diseased and 
should be disposed of; but if her comb and wattles are red, it 
indicates, as a rule, that she is out of condition on account of 
accident or lack of feed. In her present condition she scores 
166-egg type. If we get her in one finger better condition, she 
will measure four fingers abdomen, and score 205-egg type; if 
we can get her in two fingers better condition, she will measure 
five fingers abdomen and may be Vie-inch pelvic bones, on ac- 



88 THE CALL OF THE HEN. 

count of becoming a little more fleshy, and score 220-egg type; 
and if we can get her in three fingers better condition, she 
would then be in normal condition, and her pelvic bones might 
be Vi6 or 3^ inch thick; if the latter, she would score 235-egg 
type. (We will have more to say on the changing of thickness 
of the pelvic bone in the last of Chapter XVIII.) 

We will continue selecting or separating the good from the 
poor layers in the same manner, keeping every hen for another 
year in the three-finger-abdomen class that is Vie-inch pelvic 
bone and thinner, and sending every hen to market that is 
over Yi6-inch pelvic bone in the three-finger-abdomen class; 
keeping every hen in the four-finger-abdomen class that is Vie- 
inch pelvic bone and thinner, and sending every hen to market 
that is over Vie-inch pelvic bone in the four-finger-abdomen 
class; keeping every hen in the five-finger-abdomen class that 
is Vi6-inch pelvic bone and thinner, and sending every hen to 
market that is over 7ie-inch pelvic bone; keeping every hen in 
the six-finger-abdomen class that is ^'/le-inch pelvic bone and 
thinner, and sending every hen to market that is over "/le-inch 
pelvic bone thick. 

I want to say here that there is nothing arbitrary in regard 
to Charts 44 and 45. Each poultryman can draw the lines 
where he thinks it will best suit his purpose. A great man}' 
years of experimenting 1ms led the writer to believe these charts 
answer the purpose very well. 

We have disposed of all the one-year-and-four-months-old 
hens, and will move our outfit to the two-year-and-four-months- 
old hens, and arrange the catching-coop and charts as in the 
first case. 

The first hen we take from the coop may be a one-finger- 
abdomen hen, in good condition. All one- and two-finger- 
abdomen hens in good condition over one year and four months 
old, as a rule, should be disposed of. There is no profit in 
them after they have laid their allotted number of eggs their 
first season — or, in other words, after they commence to moult 
in their first laying year; so after this we will not consider 
them in this connection. 

There is a great difference in the numl)er of eggs a flock 
of hens will lay each year as they grow older. Some will 
lose 5 per cent, some 10 per cent, some 15 per cent, and some 
20 per cent. Some will not lay anything (this will be ex- 
plained later) after their first laying year. It depends alto- 



THE CALL OF THE HEN. 89 

gether on the vitality of the hen and how she has been fed 
and raised; and the variations in the percentage of eggs laid by 
exactly the same type of hens will vary with different poultry- 
keepers and also with tlie same poultry -keeper, varying more 
or less in each separate pen, proving that environment has 
more or less to do with egg-production, all other things, as far 
as human knowledge is concerned, being ecjual. Some people 
who are good mathematicians, but who are wholly ignorant 
of animal nature, look surprised when I explain to them the 
difference l:)etween classifying the production of a number of 
like machines with the production of a num])er of hens of the 
same score in egg-production. As a scientific jiroposition, it is 
impossible to write a chart beforehand that will fit every case. 
If we took 1,000 hens of any pronounced type — say 100-egg 
type, which were fed, housed, and cared for in exactly the same 
manner, and one of them laid 5, 10, or 15 eggs more or less 
some year than the other 999 hens, it would prove our con- 
tention or theory, from a scientific point of view. I am sure 
that 100 expert poultrymen could take 100 hens of the same 
general type that would score the same egg-capacity and 
would all be in the same condition, and each poultryman feed 
and care for his 100 birds for four j^ears the best he knew how, 
and ver}^ few of them would agree on a set of figures that 
woukl give the percentage of decrease in egg-production each 
year. The one wiio fed the heaviest antl produced the most 
eggs would luive the largest percentage of decrease, while the 
ones who bred for hatching eggs and did not force their hens 
with condiments and stimulants would get the least number 
of eggs and the lowest percentage of decrease, not figuring the 
percentage of decrease from the number of eggs actually laid, 
but from what the hen would lay each 3^ear. 

The writer does not claim that he has discovered a system 
that will infallibly give results just as he has written them. 
No poultryman needs to be told this, but for the benefit of 
the amateurs I have inserted the above caution. The writer 
claims, by years of investigation and practice, to have formu- 
lated a poultry code as contained in this book that is commer- 
cially the approximation of perfection. 

We will return to our two-year-old hens. We said all one- 
and two-finger-al)domen hens should be sold and we will con- 
sider them no more than to put them in the market crates 
when we find one. The reader will remember that in selecting 



90 THE CALL OF THE HEN. 

the sixteen-months-old hens we retained only those in the three-, 
four-, five-, and six-finger-abdomen columns that measured 
Vi6, Vi6, Vi6, and ^Vi6 of an inch or less, and everything below 
these lines went to market. In the show-room, when the 
writer judges utility birds, we use the charts, so as to score each 
bird according to its capacity for egg-production ; but when we 
cull the poultry on commercial plants, in order to save the 
time of looking on the charts, we keep in mind only four figures 
for the hens of any age that we are examining. For hens about 
sixteen months old, we use the figures 5, 7, 9, and 11; for hens 
with three-finger abdomens, we use the figures Vis J for four- 
finger-abdomen hens. Vie) for five-finger-abdomen hens. Vie; 
and for six-finger-abdomen hens, "/le. All under three fingers 
abdomen go to the market and all under the line go also. 

For the two-year-and-four-months-old hens we keep in 
mind the following figures: 3, 5, 7, and 9. For the three-finger- 
abdomen hen, Vi6-inch pelvic bone; four-finger-abdomen hen, 
Vi6-inch pelvic bone; five-finger-abdomen hen, Vie-inch pelvic 
bone. Everything below these figures goes to the market; 
also all one- and two-finger-abdomen birds there may be in 
the lot. 

We now go to the hens that are three years and four months 
old. Any one- and two-finger-abdomen birds that we may 
find go to market and all the three-finger-abdomen birds below 
Vi6-inch pelvic bones. For the three-year-and-four-months-old 
birds we bear in mind 1, 3, 5, and 7. Three-finger-abdomen 
hen, Vie-inch pelvic bones; four-finger-abdomen hen, Vie-inch 
pelvic bones; five-finger-abdomen hen, Vie-inch pelvic bones; 
and six-finger-abdomen hen, Vie-inch pelvic bones. All below 
these lines go to market. 

If the reader has some good hens that he wishes to breed 
from, he can use the figures. 1, 3, and 5. 

The fourth year, when he wishes to select from the four,- 
five-, and six-finger abdomen hens, it will be: Four-finger- 
abdomen hen, Vic-inch pelvic bones; five-finger-abdomen hen, 
Vie-inch pelvic bones; and six-finger abdomen -hen, Vie-inch 
pelvic bones. Very few will want to keep hens as long as this. 
They will be five years and about four months old when you 
will sell them. Most people here sell them about the time 
they commence to moult — after they are two years old; but I 
selected tuo nens used at the California State Poultry Ex- 
periment Station to test ttiis method as far as the egg-laying 



THE CALL OF THE HEN. 9 1 

qualities were concerned, and the hens I selected as hens that 
would pay at four years made a good paying record. 

The reader will understand that the way we have just 
been selecting the paying hens is the way we select when we 
have large numbers; this is the way I selected 1,600 hens in 
six hours at the poultry farm of the Ukiah State Hospital, Men- 
docino County, California, and at other State hospitals and 
poultry plants. We do not have to stop to figure out the 
percentage of loss of each bird. You can take any combina- 
tion of figures you wish, as 3:i-inch, ^-inch, 3^-inch, ^g-inch, for 
sixteen months-old birds; Vis-inch, Vie-inch, Vie-inch, Vie-inch, 
for twenty-eight-months-old birds. You can figure out the 
percentage of loss each year and take a combination of figures 
that will suit your purpose. You have only to carry four 
figures in your mind. The percentage of loss each year is 
computed by good poultrymen to be from 10 to 20 per cent in 
egg-production on plants that are run for hatching eggs. If 
you force your hens with an excess of meat and condiments, the 
loss will be according to how you feed them, and no one can 
tell what it may be but yourself. Some poultrymen will get 
all there is in a hen out of her the first season, then sell her. 



CHAPTER XL 



The Male Bird. 

This is not a treatise on cattle or hors s, but we have to 
use them very often to illustrate the matter in hand Stock- 
raising has been brought to more of a science than poultry- 
raising, and is well understood by thousands of our progres- 
sive farmers I have met hundreds of them who could de- 
scribe to me the points I would have to consider in selecting 
a good-paying butter-fat, beef or milk proposition, both in dam 
and sire ; and while there may be as many poultrymen who un- 
derstand the selection of poultry, both male and female, for egg- 
and meat-production, I have failed to meet them; and while I 
was made the butt of ridicule by the poultrymen when I issued 
my first pamphlet, entitled the "Walter Hogan System," in 
March, 1905, the stock-raisers who were interested in poultry 
stood by me to a man The reason was, that the cattlemen had 



92 THE CALL OF THE HEN. 

been studying along the utility lines in both sire and dam in 
order to develop the milk, butter-fat, and beef-producing ca- 
pacities of their cattle It was a comparatively easy proposi- 
tion for them. The form of the animals was plainly to be seen. 
They were not covered with a coat of fluff and featliers that hid 
the shape and form of the subject. It was easy to distinguish 
between the cat ham of the butter-fat type and the full, deep 
ham of the beef type. It was no trouble to compare the udders, 
milk-veins, and wedge-shape type of the Jersey with the full, 
rounded build of the Hereford or Polled Angus. 

On the other hand, the poultrymen, to some extent, were 
deceived by the appearance of their hens. Take, for instance, 
the Cochin and the Bantam; they would hold about the same 
relation to each other as the lordly Durham would to the fine- 
bred Devon, yet I have found Bantam hens with as deep ab- 
domen as a great Cochin hen; and it is my opinion that if 
poultry were as bare of- feathers as cattle are, the poultry in- 
dustry would be as far advanced at present as is the cattle 
business. 

The greatest impediment to the successful breeder of 
poultry has been the inability to select the male bird of the 
required type. The custom in vogue at the present writing 
with most poultrymen is to trap-nest their hens and raise 
cockerels from the best layers as indicated by the trap-nest. 
The trouble with this method is, that while the hen may lay a 
large number of eggs, she maj^ not have the faculty to transmit 
her laying qualities to her offspring, and lier cockerels may be 
deficient in both egg-laying qualities and the al)ility to transmit 
what good qualities they may possess to their progeny. 

Again, I have seen a great many cases where poultry- 
farmers would send away and buy a lot of cockerels. The man 
that raised and sold them had no knowledge of how to classify 
them, and the man who bought them knew he was buying 
cockerels and that is all he did know about them. He could not 
be sure whether they would increase his egg-yield or not. He 
had to pay his money and take chances. It was nothing more 
or less than a gamble; but the days of gambling in the poultry 
business are passed for the intelligent, progressive poultr3man, 
no longer will he be obliged to trust to luck or intuition. He 
will be able to select his male birds with as much assurance as 
his hens, and instead of groping in the dark, he will have the 
satisfaction of seeing and knowing just what he is doing by 
bearing in mind the instructions in this chapter. 



THE CALL OF THE HEN. 93 

The reader will liy this time be familiar with the different 
types and capacities of hens, and will not be surprised to learn 
there is a similar number of variations in the male birds; and if 
one wishes to produce a certain type and capacity in a pullet 
or cockerel, he must select the parent birds that will produce 
that type. We know how to select the hen; we will now take 
up the study of how to select the male l)ird. 

"We go through the same movements in selecting or testing 
the male l)ird as we do in selecting the hen, l)ut we use a dif- 
ferent set of charts. For example, it is possible for a hen to 
change from six to three fingers in abdominal capacity within 
a month and be healtln^ and active, and in another month to 
return back to her original six-finger capacity, ])ut it is not so 
with the male l)ird after he is mature. I have tested male 
birds at nine months of age that scored four fingers abdomen, 
Voc-inch ))elvie bone, that did not change for four years, except 
that, their pelvic bones being Vie of an inch thick at nine 
months old, I have found them to be j/g of an inch thick at 
eighteen months old. They had increased in thickness of bone 
from Vi6 to 3^8 inch. These were egg-type male birds; the 
meat-type will vary more or less in the thickness of the pelvic 
bones — depending on how much flesh they put on or lose 
between the different times of examining them. 

It will be easy to distinguish the egg-type cock bird from 
the meat-type l)ird ; the former has thin pelvic bones, whether 
in flesh or not, while the latter has thick pelvic bones with a 
more or less lump of gristle on the end of them, whether he is 
thin or in good flesh. I have found that in classifying the male 
bird as we have the hen as to type and capacity for a certain 
egg-yield it requires less abdominal capacity in the male bird 
than in the female. For instance, the male bird that is two 
fingers abdomen and Vie of an inch pelvic bone is the same type 
and capacity for breeding purposes as the three-finger-abdomen 
hen, Vi6-inch pelvic one. The male of the same class, as re- 
gards capacity, does not require as large an abdomen as the 
female ; this is so self-evident that it would be a waste of time 
to try to explain the reason for it. 

I have heard poultrymen say that the male bird is half of 
the flock. I wonder if they stop to consider whether this is so 
or not. My birds are wonderful layers, and I mate one male 
bird to every twelve hens, and from a breeder's point of view I 
consider my male birds a great deal more than half the flock. 



94 THE CALL OF THE HEN. 

If I mate 100-egg type cock birds with 200-egg hens, the progeny 
may lay about 150 eggs, thus reducing my egg-yield about 25 
per cent in the progeny of each of the twelve hens. For this 
reason I have given as much thought to the male bird as I have 
to the hen; and in arranging the charts for the male birds 
have experienced a great deal of difficulty, as it takes years 
of time and hundreds of matings to arrive at conclusions that 
would be approximately correct. In any one case, everything 
else (type, capacity, and breed) being equal, care and environ- 
ment have a dominating influence on the product, whether 
eggs or meat ; consequently, if a number of investigators were 
working on this proposition, using the same system of selection, 
they could not help but arrive at somewhat different conclusions 
as to figures, but that would not affect the value of the system. 

MALE BIRD— CHART A. 
One-finger Abdomen. 

Vi6 pelvic bone 84-egg type 

% pelvic bone 75-egg type 

Vi6 pelvic bone 67-egg type 

}4: pelvic bone 58-egg type 

Vi6 pelvic bone 50-egg type 

3^ pelvic bone 41-egg type 

Vi6 pelvic bone 33-egg type 

^2 pelvic bone 24-egg type 

Vi6 pelvic bone 16-egg type 

^ pelvic bone 7-egg type 

"/i6 pelvic bone egg-type 

MALE BIRD— CHART B. 

One-and-one-half-finger Abdomen. 

Vi6 pelvic bone 132-egg type 

}/$ pelvic bone 120-egg type 

Vi6 pelvic bone 109-egg type 

}4 pelvic bone 98-egg type 

Vi6 pelvic bone 87-egg type 

^ pelvic bone 75-egg type 

Vi6 pelvic bone 64-egg type 

}/2 pelvic bone 53-egg type 

Vi6 pelvic bone 42-egg type 

^ pelvic bone 30-egg type 



THE CALL OF THE HEN. 95 

'Vi6 pelvic bone 19-egg type 

'^i pelvic bone 8-egg type 

'Vie pelvic bone 0-egg type 

"J/g pelvic bone 0-egg type 

MALE BIRD— CHART C. 

Two-finger Abdomen. 

Vi6 pelvic bone 180-egg type 

}/8 pelvic bone 166-egg type 

Vi6 pelvic bone 152-egg type 

3^ pelvic bone 138-egg type 

Vi6 pelvic bone 124-egg type 

^ pelvic bone 110-egg type 

Vi6 pelvic bone 96-cgg type 

}/2 pelvic bone 82-egg type 

7i6 pelvic bone 68-egg type 

^ pelvic bone 54-egg type 

"/i6 pelvic bone 40-egg type 

/4 pelvic bone 2G-egg type 

^Vi6 pelvic bone 12-egg type 

J4 pelvic bone 0-egg[type 

MALE BIRD— CHART D. 

Two-and-one-half-finger Abdomen. 

Vi6 pelvic bone 200-cgg type 

3^8 pelvic bone 185-egg type 

Vi6 pelvic bone 171-egg type 

}4 pelvic bone 156-egg type 

Vi6 pelvic bone 142-egg type 

^ pelvic bone 127-egg tj^pe 

Vi6 pelvic bone 113-egg type 

3^ pelvic bone 98-egg type 

Vi6 pelvic bone 84-egg type 

^ pelvic bone 69-egg type 

"/i6 pelvic bone 55-egg type 

^ pelvic bone 40-egg type 

'Vie pelvic bone 26-egg type 

"14 pelvic bone H-egg type 

^Vi6 pelvic bone 0-egg type 



96 THE CALL OF THE HEN. 

MALE BIRD— CHART E. 
Three-finger Abdomen. 

Vi6 pelvic bone 235-cgg type 

^ pelvic bone 220-egg type 

Vi6 pelvic bone 205-egg type 

34 pelvic bone 190-cgg type 

Vi6 pelvic bone 175-egg type 

^8 pelvic bone 160-egg type 

Vi6 pelvic bone 145-cgg type 

Yi pelvic bone 130-egg type 

Vi6 pelvic bone 115-egg type 

Y% pelvic bone 100-egg type 

^Vi6 pelvic lione 85-egg type 

3/^ pelvic bone 70-egg type 

^Vi6 pelvic l)one 55-egg type 

Y% pelvic bone 40-egg type 

^Vi6 pelvic l:)one 25-egg type 

1-in. pelvic bone 10-egg type 

"/i6 pelvic bone 0-egg type 

MALE BIRD CHART F. 

Three-and-one-half-fnger Abdomen. 

Vi6 pelvic bone 257-('gg tyj^e 

H pelvic bone 242-egg type 

Vi6 pelvic bone 227-ogg type 

Y pelvic bone 212-egg type 

Vi6 pelvic bone 197-egg type 

Y% pelvic bone 182-egg type 

Vi6 pelvic bone 167-egg type 

Yi pelvic bone b52-egg type 

Vn pelvic bone 137-egg type 

Y^ pelvic bone 122-egg type 

"/i6 pelvic bone 107-egg type 

"^4 pelvic bone 92-egg tj^pe 

'Vi6 pelvic bone 77-egg type 

J 8 pelvic bone G2-egg type 

'Vi6 pelvic bone 47-egg type 

1-in. pelvic bone 32-egg type 

^Vi6 pelvic bone 17-egg type 

\Y% pelvic bone 0-egg type 



THE CALL OF THE HEN. ' 97 

MALE BIRD— CHART G. 

Four-finger Abdomen. 

Vi6 pelvic bone 280-egg type 

14 pelvic ))one 265-egg type 

Vie pelvic bone 250-egg type 

li pelvic bone 235-egg type 

Vi6 pelvic bone 220-egg type 

3^ pelvic bone 205-egg type 

Vi6 pelvic bone 190-egg type 

32 iielvic bone 175-egg type 

7i6 i)elvic bone 160-egg type 

% pelvic bone 145-egg type 

'7,6 pelvic bone 13()-egg type 

3 4 pelvic bone lb'3-egg type 

"/le pelvic l)one l(K)-egg type 

% p(-lvic bone 85-egg type 

'Vie pelvic bone "O-egg type 

1-in. pelvic bone 55-egg type 

'Vi6 pelvic bone 40-egg type 

1}/S pelvic bone 25-egg type 

lVi6 pelvic ])one 10-cgg type 

1 >^ pelvic l)one 0-egg type 

We consider the male bird of so much imjwrtance that we 
have made seven charts for his classification as to egg and 
meat types. See Charts A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. While 
Chart A may not be n(H'(led and Chart B used very seldom, we 
thought it best to include them. All old poultrymen and stock- 
raisers know that so many considerations enter into the breeding 
and raising of live stock of all kinds that it is impossible to lay 
down hard-and-fast rul(>s that can be depended upon before- 
hand to l)ring definite results in all parallel cases. This is 
written as a caution to beginners, especially to those whose 
experience has l)een at the desk or behind the counter. 

Fig. 46 shows a cock bird four fingers abdomen and Fig. 
47 shows the same l)ird ys-mch pelvic Iwne, making him a 
265-egg tyi^e bird. 

The reader will see liy Figs. 46 and 47 that we use the same 
methods to determine the egg-value of a male bird as we use 
for the hen, except that we do not think it advisable to take 
the matter of condition into consideration, or rather it is better 
not to lay down rules in tlie matter, as it is very hard to keep 



THE CALL OF THE HEN. 




Fig. 46 — Showing four-finger depth of abdomen of 265-egg cock bird. 




Fig. 47 — Showing J^-inch pelvic bone of 265-egg cock bird. 



THE CALL OF THE HEN. 



99 




Fig. 48 — Showing •/le-inch pelvic bone of 2S0-egg type hen. 




Fig. 49 — Showing six-finger depth of abdomen of 2S0-egg type hen. 



THE CALL OF THE HEN. 




Fig. 50 — 2S0-egg type hen and 2G5-ej. 
is somewhat cramped for want of room. 



type cock bird. Tail of cock 



the egg-type birds in good condition ; but I try to keep my cock 
birds in good flesh and not over one finger out of condition at 
any time. There are times before the male birds are a year old 
and while their bones are soft that their abdomens will con- 
tract and expand, it depending on whether thej^ are stinted in 
their feed or whether they are fed liberally. Egg-type cock- 
erels selected for l^reeders should have the best care and food 
(see chapter on Selecting Cockerels for Breeding). In examining 
the male birds for prepotencj^, the reader should select them 
with the greatest care. I cannot impress this on the reader 
too strongly. They should be as good or better if possible than 
No. 1, Fig. 35, and do not forget that the thumb-nail on the 
left hand and the nail on the forefinger of the right hand (re- 
verse the order if left-handed) must be somewhat longer than 
the flesh, if you expect to take correct measurements. 



THE CALL OF THE HEN. lOI 



CHAPTER XII. 



Selecting the Cockerels at Broiler Age. 

I have tried to impress on the reader the importance of 
the careful selection of the male birds, and perhaps he is fully 
alive to the value of doing so. He starts out at the first op- 
portunity and visits all the poultry plants far and near, with the 
determination to purchase the best male bird he can find. 
Before starting out, he decides he will have nothing less than 
200-egg types. Imagine his disappointment when, after hand- 
ling perhaps fifty or more, he can find nothing that will come 
any way near the 200-egg type ; while if he examines the same 
number of hens, he will very likely find at least one or perhaps 
more that will come somewhat near what he is looking for. 
Then he will say that there is no such bird as the chart de- 
scribes as a 200-egg type cock bird. I wish to say here that I 
think I have at least fifty male birds at the present writing 
that will scale from 200 up, according to the charts. I have over 
a dozen that will scale from 250 to 265, and these have all been 
developed within six years from hens with three-finger abdo- 
mens and j4-inch pelvic bones, mated to cockerels with 1}4- 
inch finger al)domens and Vie-inch pelvic bones. 

The first season in California we raised about 300 cockerels 
up to three months of age, which is within the broiler age 
for this section. We arranged our house and catching-coop as 
in Figs. 1 and 2, and we went through the same movements 
that we do when testing the hens, except that we do not have to 
use all the tests on each one of the cockerels that we use on 
the hens. We hold the cockerel as in Figs. 5 and 6 and lay 
our hand on his al;domen as in Fig. 7. As soon as we lay our 
hand on his abdomen we can feel instantly whether his pelvic 
bones are straight, like Fig. 34, or crooked, like Fig. 33. If his 
pelvic bones are like Fig. 33, we have no use for him as a breeder 
and put him in the shipping-crate for market; if his pelvic 
bones are straight, like Fig. 34, we measure the depth of his 
abdomen; if it is less than two fingers, we put him in the 
shipping-crate; if two fingers or over, we examine him for pre- 
potency; and if the projection on the back of his head, as in 
No. 1, Fig. 35, is less than 3^ of an inch behind a line drawn 
at right angles from the back of the ear (see Figs. 41, 42, and 



r02 THE CALL OF THE HEN. 

43) we put him in the shipping-crate, no matter how good 
he is in other points. We take no cliances with him, because, 
if we have made no mistake in measuring his head lines, 
abdomen, and pelvic bones, it will be a waste of time to breed 
from him ; but if his head measures up good, we keep him as a 
prospective breeder. We say "as a prospective breeder," 
as it is very evident it will not pay to raise all the cockerels 
to maturity. 

Here in Petaluma, where there are over 600,000 cockerels 
raised to ])roiler age in a season, it would be impossible to 
raise them all and test their breeding qualities, neither is it 
necessary. If a person has a delicate touch, the comparative 
value of chicks for prepotency can be judged as well when they 
are three days old as at any time later. Then again, we are 
obliged to keep our chicks until we can distinguish the males 
from the females, and as a rule we will lose nothing if we keep 
them until they are at least ten weeks old, when, if they have 
had the right care and feed, they will be old enough to test. If 
their pelvic bones are thick at this age, it indicates they are 
more or less of the meat type; if their pelvic bones are crooked, 
it indicates that they never will be straight; and if they lack 
prepotency, it indicates that they will always lack it, for they 
come out of the shell Avith this organ relatively large or small, 
just as a baby is born with a nose on its face. 

I want to impress on the reader the importance of using 
the utmost care in measuring the head for prepotency, as it is 
very easy for a person to think he has measured the head right 
when he has not done so; especially if he has large self-esteem, 
he then thinks everything he does must be right; it would be 
impossil)le for him to do anything otherwise than the right 
way. In my classes I have found workers in the machinists' 
trade made the most correct measurements, especially if they 
had the faculty of human nature large, while I have found 
that professional men who had human nature small make 
the poorest measurements; this was owing to prejudice, and 
not to the absence of the combination of the necessary mental 
faculties. I suppose there will always be found those who will 
discredit the most obvious fact, if it puts them at a disad- 
vantage from a mental, moral, or financial point of view; but in 
this case it would be cutting off your nose to spite your face to 
be careless in any of these tests. 



THE CALL OF THE HEN. 103 

I have never yet, in my investigations of iiundreds of i)oultry 
plants, found a d (^generate lot of poultry but that tlu>y were 
small in prepotency. But to return to the cockerels: As we 
said on page 101, we raised 300 cockerels the first year I was in 
California. After t(^sting them at three months old, as de- 
scribed, I found eighteen that I considered worth keeping to the 
age of nine months, when I would give them the final test. 
When they were eight months old I tested them again, and 
while I found that they all had good depth of abdomen and 
good prepotency, six of them had crooked pelvic bones. The 
pelvic ])ones on twelve of the cockerels had continu(^d to grow 
straight, while the pelvic bones on six of them had grown 
crooked and were coming together at the points, like the horns 
on a Jersey cow. I had to discard these six breeders and 
send them to market. 

The reader will se(^ that, out of 300 cockerels, I had only 12 
that were capable of improving my flock. Last year (1912), out 
of about 1,200,1 had only 200 that I considered good enough 
to keep for breeders; and while all my birds have been more or 
less squirrel-tailed, one of last year's 200 is a very well-formed, 
low-tailed bird, but he lacks the pure-white ear-lobes. He 
scores 250-egg type, and I have refused $50.00 for him. I 
am going to see if I can l)reed a low-tailed type of Leghorn in 
quantities that will conform to the present American standard, 
and average alx)ut 200 eggs per year in large flocks. The 
reader will understand that the parents of these cockerels were 
selected with the greatest care as to capacity, type, and pre- 
potency. Type and prepotency are more or less liereditary 
traits or features, distinguisha])le in the subjects, if we iiave the 
knowledge necessary to discern them. But the individual in- 
herent or innate potentiality of any one or each birtl cannot 
be increased or diminished l:)y the breeder; that is to say, 
feed and environment will not materially change the impotent 
l)ird into a potent bird, neither will it change the typical meat- 
type into the egg-type bird. 

"But," I hear some sarcastic reader say, "we certainly can 
diminish or increase their prepotency l)y alternately starving 
and feeding them well." That is begging the question. You 
could affect their fecundity very readily; but what the writer 
wishes to impress on the reader is, that while type and pre- 
potency are fixed before birth, and also the ability to govern 
capacity, and while type and prepotency can be procured only 



I04 THE CALL OF THE HEN. 

by selection, capacity can be governed more or less by environ- 
ment — in other words, feed, care, the right kind of houses, 
ground, etc. We will say, for instance, the reader has a pen 
of egg-type birds, both male and female, with large prepotency 
and capacity, and suppose they were all 200-egg birds. There 
would be no difficulty in raising chickens from them with the 
same degree of type and prepotency; but if he should stint 
them in feed of the proper kind and quantity while growing, 
they would lose in capacity each generation. I develop the 
capacity of both pullets and cockerels from the time they are 
three days old to the fullest extent by the most liberal feeding, 
care, and surrounding conditions. 

In concluding this chapter, I would say that the bird with 
the desired characteristics is more or less of a sport, and the 
value of the "Hogan Test" lies in the fact that with this knowl- 
edge you can discover the sport and perpetuate it through in- 
telligent breeding. Again, I want to say here that my best 
cockerels measure four fingers abdomen at three months old. 
All my stock is developed as much as possible at this age, and 
I try to prevent the cockerels from shrinking. But the pullets 
will develop until some of them are six fingers abdomen. 

The enclosed article from the Petaluma Weekly Poultry 
Journal emphasizes what we have said in regard to the feeding 
and care of young stock. These cockerels were not crammed 
or penned up and fed, but were taken off free range and sent 
directly to market. I wish to remind the reader here that in 
examining the cockerels for prepotency he may be proficient 
enough in the matter to examine them by holding them between 
his knees and not be obliged to put each one in a sack. The 
article follows: 

"Walter Hogan Can Ralse Chickens. 
"Walter Hogan backs up his system of selecting the good 
layers from among the poor ones, but he has never made much 
fuss about his ability as a poultry -raiser. For that reason some 
people have absorbed the idea that he is more of a theorist 
than a practical man. But he now has a flock of his own, and 
evidently he is making good, for he is getting results that will 
convince any one from Missouri or anywhere else who must 
be "shown" before believing. For instance, last week there 
was a spell of most discouraging depression in the prices which 
dealers were willing to pay for young poultry. There were 



THE CALL OF THE HEN. IO5 

large arrivals of Eastern poultry in San Francisco besides heavy 
receipts of California, and nobody wanted any more. Just the 
same, Mr. Hogan received $4.00 a dozen for sixteen dozen cock- 
erels just three months old, when the same dealer was paying 
but $1.50 for birds of the same age. Now, what do you think 
of that? And Mr. Hogan says these cockerels were not de- 
scendants of the beef type of hens, but were hatched from eggs 
laid by hens selected as the egg type. They were not especially 
fed or in any way prepared for market. They cost 22 cents 
each for feed, and thus the profit on the bunch was $21.76. 

"In speaking of this matter, Mr. Hogan made the point that 
if all poultrymen would pay especial attention to producing 
fine broilers for market — that is, in preparing the broilers that 
they are obliged to produce in order to have a corresponding 
number of pullets — they would benefit themselves greatly. 
Not only would they get a better price for the birds, but they 
would greatly increase the demand, as many people who now 
care nothing for the common dry-meated birds would become 
pleased consumers of the improved broilers. The Poultry 
Journal man knows by personal experience that the broilers 
turned out by Mr. Hogan are simply delicious when properly 
cooked, and far ahead of the ordinary article." 



CHAPTER Xni. 



Selecting the Setting Hen. 

"How can I select the best hen for the purpose when I 
want to hatch chickens with hens?" 

The writer is asked the above question very often. It is 
a serious matter with a poultryman when he has a small number 
of choice eggs he wishes to hatch and gives them to a hen that 
is apparently setting well only to have her spoil most of them. 
He very naturally lays the cause to mites or lice, or both. 
While it is true that the nests and surroundings must be kept 
free from mites and the hens kept clean from hen lice, the 
trouble is not all here by a good deal. Sometimes a great deal 
of the fault lies in the hen. Some are born layers, some are 
born mothers, and some are born too lazy to get off of the nest 
at the call of Nature. The hen born a typical egg type is of no 



I06 THE CALL OF THE HEN. 

use as a setter, neither is the hen that is born a typical meat 
type, she is too lazy to care for her chicks, even if she is for- 
tunate enough to hatch any and not kill them all by standing 
on them. She is too stupid any way, and the typical egg-type 
hen is too nervous and has no time to attend to them. She 
thinks of nothing ))ut manufacturing eggs. So we will have to 
look for a hen l^etween the above types, which we have in the 
dual-purpose type, with the following characteristics: 

Plrst, she must have prepotency large; that gives her the 
mother instinct; next, she should be in normal condition, as 
indicated by her breast-bone ; that is self-evident, for a hen out 
of condition lacks more or less of the animal magnetism that 
is an aid to successful inculjation. I need not mention good 
health, as indicated by good red comb and wattles, as everyone 
knows that. The hen should be four fingers abdomen, since 
anything heavier is more or less liable to break the eggs and 
anything less than that would not he large enough to cover 
sufficient eggs. If the hen is a three-finger abdomen hen, 
her pelvic bones should be about Vie or 3^2 of an inch thick; 
if she is a four-finger abdomen hen, her pelvic bones should be 
about 14. or Vie of an inch thick. If you can find hens such as 
described here, you will have hens with the mother instinct. 
They will not be too lazy to take proper care of themselves 
and tlieir chicks, nor will they want to lay so soon as to neglect 
their chickens. The nearer you can get to procuring the 
al)ove type of hens the better success you will have raising 
chicks with them. 



CHAPTP]R XIV. 



Selecting the Stock for Raising I^roilers. 

A groat many of my frientls have requested me to write a 
chapter on how to raise broilers, but as there are so many ex- 
cellent books on the market that describe the process of the 
feeding, caring for, and raising of broilers a great deal better 
than I could do it, I will confine myself to the selection of the 
breeding stock only. The writer has raised Light Brahmas and 
White Plymouth Rocks for years, and has experimented with 
them to get the greatest amount of meat from the smallest 



THE CALL OF THE HEN. I07 

amount of feed; to get the greatest weight of meat at three 
months old in the White Rocks and the greatest weight of 
meat in the Light Brahmas at maturity. In the process I have 
run up against two distinct propositions; one was a success 
from a commercial point of view, and the other, while not a 
financial success, was a success from an epicurean point of view. 
I will describe the financial proposition first: 

We will select a pen of hens from our favorite l^rced, or 
from Wj^andottes, Orpingtons, Plymouth Rocks, or Rhode 
Island Reds. The hens must have large prepotency; they 
must be six or seven fingers abdomen and their pelvic bones 
should be ^ of an inch thick, in good condition. Now you 
have hens that should lay twelve dozen eggs their first laying 
year, and they are a paying proposition. Do not breed from 
them the first year, but wait until they are over one year old ; 
then mate them with a mature cockerel or young cock with 
large prepotency, with abdomen four fingers deep or more and 
pelvic bones from 1 inch to 1}4 inches thick. You siiould feetl 
the pen for eggs, and keep them as healthy as possible. If 
they are fed right, you will get lots of eggs and good, healthy 
chicks, capable of putting on flesh rapidly anfl fattening very 
easily. As a paying proposition for market l^roilers, I have 
never found any combination that would equal it. 

gut for my private use, without regard to profit, I would 
take the same combination as the above, except that the pelvic 
bones of the hens would be 1 inch thick, instead of aljout ^ s ; 
this woukl give a broiler that would put on flesh much faster, 
consequently' it would be more tender. I have raised broilers 
the flesh of whicli would almost melt in your mouth. I iuive 
a few secrets in the raising of them which I have never di- 
vulged, but may do so in a few years. 



io8 



THE CALL OF THE HEN. 




Fig. 51 — The dry-mash liopper we use, closed. 





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IRBhHIh 


ipk 


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Fig. 52 — The dry-mash hopper we use, open. 



THE CALL OF THE HEN. I09 

CHAPTER XV. 



Using the Hogan Test in Judging Poultry at the Poultry 

Shows. 

From the Live Stock Trihime, Los Angeles, California. 

(Now Pacific Poultnjcraft.) 

"Inglewood Poultry Show. 

"A poultry show will be held in the Inglewood Poultry- 
Colony on March 13th and 14th. This show will be the first 
of its kind ever given to the United States. All poultry shows 
that have been held in this country heretofore have awarded 
prizes according to the color, markings, and shape of the fowls 
only. The show at Inglewood will be unusual in that prizes 
will be awarded irrespective of the color, variety, shape, size, 
or age of the fowls in competition. 

"Birds in competition will be judged as to their egg-laying 
capacities and reproductive abilities only. The judging will be 
done by thesystem discovered and perfected by Walter Hogan 
and now used in practical poultry-raising by the members of 
the Inglewood Poultry Colony. 

"First, second, third, fourth, and fifth prizes will be awarded 
to the best males and females entered from Inglewood; first 
prize being $5.00 cash, second prize being $3.00 cash; all 
winners receiving ribbons. In addition to the foregoing, there 
will be the Jaffa Grand Prize of $25.00 in gold, wliich will be 
awarded to the hen in the show which shows the greatest ca- 
pacity as a layer, combined with the ability to reproduce 
her kind. 

"Entries for the regular prizes will be limited to fowls from 
Inglewood, but competition for the Jaffa Grand Prize will be 
open to all comers. Entries from poultry-raisers outside of 
Inglewood will be limited to two birds each. No entry fee 
will be charged, but all birds entered will be sent at the owner's 
risk, as is usual at all shows. 

"The birds entered will be cared for and reshipped to the 
owners by White Wyandotte Farm, under whose auspices the 
show will be given and to whom all entries should be sent. No 
entries will be received after 10 o'clock a. m. on March 12th. 



I lO THE CALL OF THE HEN. 

"This show will be unique in that it will present the com- 
mercial side of the poultry industry to the exclusion of fancy 
breeding. Every step in the poultry business from the hatching 
of the chick to the preparation of the mature fowl for market, 
and the packing of the eggs for table use will be illustrated })y 
actual demonstrations on the famous White Wyandotte Farm, 
where the exhibition will be given. Incubators will hatch not 
less than 2,000 chicks during the show, and chickens in every 
stage of development, from one day old to ten weeks old, will 
be shown as raised in the best brooders with the best care. 

"There will be demonstrations on both days of the show of 
killing, picking, and preparing fowls for market, as well as of 
packing fancy eggs. The best and latest in poultry supplies, 
fittings, and equipment will be shown as actually used by the 
capable, successful men who are in the business for revenue only. 
"No admission fee will be charged, the show being given 
for the purpose of exploiting and demonstrating the poultry 
business as it is being developed in Southern California. 

"The Jaffa Grand Prize is given and named in honor of 
Professor Jaffa, of the University of California, who was the 
first man in public life in this State to test and verify the 
excellence of the system discovered by Mr. Hogan. 

"Transportation from Los Angeles to Inglewood will be 
free, and it is understood that the Board of Trade of Inglewood 
will make arrangements to take those who visit the show 
around the city of Inglewood in automobiles. 

"Those who visit the Inglewood Poultry Show will see an 
exhibition that will be more interesting by far than any show 
that has preceded it in California or in any other State, because 
one will have an opportunity to see, not the pedigree, but the 
money in the chicken and a practical way to get that money 
out." 



In judging the poultry show at Inglewood the manage- 
ment made the rule that all birds were to be judged according 
to the condition they were in at the time they were judged, 
and while this rule may be all right in judging the fancy bird 
and the beef-type bird, it will never do for the egg-type bird, 
as the reader will see when I relate an incident that occurred 
during the show in Inglewood, which was held in March. A 
gentleman had entered a White Leghorn hen that he had trap- 



THE CALL OF THE HEN. 1 1 1 

nested a year up to the previous Novemljer, and liad her 
record with him. The hen scored (as near as I can remember) 
two fingers abdomen, two fingers out of condition, and Vie-inch 
pelvic bone, and according to the rules of the show I was obliged 
to give her credit for 78 eggs her first laying year, when, ac- 
cording to his trap-nested record, she had laid 180 eggs. He 
said she had been sick and had just commenced to improve 
shortty before he sent her to the show, and he wanted to prove 
whether or not I could tell how many eggs she had laid her 
first laying year. I told him I could not tell how many eggs 
she had laid, but I could tell how many she could have laid if 
she had been fed and cared for right, barring accidents and 
sickness; that her capacity was 190 eggs her first laying year. 
He then showed me her record, which was 180 eggs. 

In the autumn of 1911 George D. Holden, ex-president of 
the American Poultry Association, judged the fancy and the 
writer judged the utility birds at the Pajaro Valley Poultry 
Show, held at Watsonville, Santa Cruz County, California. In 
judging that show full credit was given each bird, both male and 
female, as to what they were capable of doing, whether in meat 
or eggs, and for prepotency, without any regard as to how their 
owners cared for them — or, in other words, without regard to 
their condition. And the owners of the birds who were inter- 
ested in knowing were instructed how to rectify any deficiency 
there may have been in the birds. It seems to me this is the 
best way to encourage and develop the poultry industry. I am 
sure the American Poultry Association could formulate a code 
of rules that would greatly aid in judging utility poultry and 
thereby add greatly to the interest of our poultry shows; in 
fact, I am advised that such a proposition is being considered 
at the time I am writing this (July 25, 1913). 



CHAPTER XVL 



Stamina in Poultry. 

When I came to California and told the poultry-raisers 
that I was going to take their birds and in the course of time 
breed a flock of 200-egg hens from them, they declared it 
could not be done. They said if it was possible to breed up a 



112 THE CALL OF THEHEN. 

large flock of 200-egg hens, their progeny would be so weak I 
could never raise them, and that their eggs would be so mis- 
shapen and thin-shelled they would not be marketable. I re- 
plied that perhaps they were right, but I saw no reason why I 
could not do so here, as I had bred up one lot in the Eastern 
States and another lot in Minnesota. Both lots were Leghorns, 
and I thought it would be easier to develop Leghorns in Cali- 
fornia than in Minnesota, and I have now demonstrated in Cali- 
fornia that the following can be clone: 

1 . The 200-egg hen is a fact and not a theory ; 

2. That she can be bred and fed to lay as perfect an egg 

as any other class of hens; 

3. That her eggs are as fertile and will hatch as strong 

chicks as the hen that does not pay for her feed. 
The breeder need not take my word for the above state- 
ments. The frontispiece shows five of this type of birds that 
the writer bred and raised in California. These birds laid the 
greatest weight of eggs (131 pens of five birds to each pen com- 
peting, including three pens of Indian Runner ducks) in the 
National Egg-la^dng Contest at the State Poultry Experiment 
Station, Mountain Grove, Missouri, U. S. A., for the twelve 
months ending November 1, 1912. These five hens laid 131 
pounds of eggs, which, reduced to No. 1 eggs as rated in Peta- 
luma, would be 229V5 eggs for each hen. The eggs these five 
hens laid while moulting were jmt on exhibition in the Chamber 
of Commerce in Petaluma and were pronounced by good judges 
to be as fine a lot of eggs as they ever saw, and that is saying a 
great deal, as there are more eggs produced within a radius of 
ten miles from Petaluma than in any other like part of the 
world. We have hundreds of letters from our customers tes- 
tifying to the value of this stock, a few extracts from which we 
will introduce here to prove to the reader that because a flock 
of hens are great layers it does not follow that they are of 
low vitality. 

Extracts from Letters. 

Portland, Ore., June 23, 1912. 
Received eggs. None broken. Very nice. Fifteen infer- 
tile out of 150. C. F. Perkins. 

LiHUE, Hawaii, June 11, 1913. 
Eggs arrived O. K. None damaged. Have fourteen chicks 
four weeks old doing fine. Am well pleased. 

E. H. Broadbent. 



THE CALL OF THE HEN. II3 

(These eggs were shipped over 2,200 miles by rail and 
steamer to reach their destination.) 

Watsonville, Calif., April 5, 1912. 
Eggs received. Finest we ever had. Got forty-nine strong 
chicks from sixty-four eggs. Ora L. Hill. 

Vancouver, B. C, May 13, 1912. 
The 100 eggs received. Express and customs ran price 
to $14.00. Am very well satisfied. Hatched 70 per cent 
beautiful chicks; doing well. G. W. McLelland. 

QuiNCY, Wash., April 14, 1912. 
Chicks received; not a dead one in the bunch, which speaks 
well for the vitality of your stock. 

H. L. Johnson, Treasurer 
and Manager Quincy Lumber Company. 
Victoria, B. C, Sub. P. 0. No. 1, 

April 19, 1912. 
Received the 100 chicks; four dead. Think that is very 
good, coming that journey. James D. West. 

Salem, Ore., April 19, 1913. 
Received baby chicks; they are just lovely; not one dead, 
which we think is great. They came in fine shape. 

Mr. and Mrs. Hayre. 

Seattle, Wash., August 25, 1912. 
Received the 1,040 chicks a])Out ten w^eks ago; there were 
five dead in the boxes. Have lost about 75 of them, all told. 

S. K. SUTTLE. 

Tucson, Ariz., February 17, 1913. 
Received chicks in good condition; 1 dead, 623 alive and 
kicking. L. E. Smith. 

Reno, Nev., March 11, 1913. 
Chicks came through fine; 1 dead in 700, which speaks 
well for their vitality. They surely are a spry bunch. 

A. L. Rice. 

Reno, Nev., July 22, 1913. 
Chicks are fine; they are the largest and best-looking ever 
seen in Nevada. They are just 4 months and 12 days old. 
One of them laid yesterday. Every poultry man that sees 
them remarks it's too bad I haven't a thousand. 

A. L. Rice. 



1 14 THE CALL OF THE HEN. 

The preceeding extracts are taken from a few of the many 
unsolicited letters I have received from my customers during 
the last two years that I liave been selling hatching eggs and 
day -old chicks. I have repeatedly shipping hatching eggs to the 
Hawaiian Islands and as far east as Minnesota, and day-old 
chicks where they would be over seventy -two hours on the road. 
Last summer I turned down over $6,000 worth of orders that 
I could not fill at .$10.00 per 100 for eggs and $15.00 per 100 
for day-old chicks. I am aware I will have a hard time con- 
vincing some of my readers that what I claim for the 200-egg 
hen is true, but it seems to me any progressive poultryman 
would be satisfied with the proof I offer him. I will admit that 
the eggs and chicks from the 200-egg type hens as now bred are 
not all we would desire, but that is owing to lack of proper 
knowledge of breeding. As I have said before, by using the 
"Hogan Test" the reader can breed as fine or as coarse as his 
conditions require; and by selecting only those birds with 
large prepotency he will be assured of success. 



CHAPTER XVn. 



"At Sea Over Mating" — What Shall It Be, the Trap- 
Nest, Mendeltsm, ok the Hogan Test? 

(From The North American, Philadelphia, Pa., 
November 24, 1912.) 

"At Sea over Mating. 

"America has some good layers, unhenrd of and unknown, 
'tis true, but we are evidently all at sea in the matter of mating 
for egg-production. 

"Can it be possible tliat Mendel's law obtains in egg- 
production just as it does in feathers and form? Do we elim- 
inate, according to Mendel, the factor governing certain things 
in egg-production, just as we do in the attempt to control col- 
oring in birds, fowls, animals, and flowers? If a a son of a 
heavy-laying female is mated to a non-layer and this son does 
not carry the excess of laying proclivity, do we get poor layers 
or good layers? If a 100 per cent producing hen (200 eggs or 
more) is mated to the son of a 100 per cent producing female, 



THE CALL OF THE HEN. I 1 5 

it does not follow, if Mendel's law applies, that the mate to the 
second 100 per cent female inherited egg-laying proclivities; 
therefore, why should the offspring of the second mating be 
prolific egg-producers? And how far back must we go to get 
the excess of female inclination to reproduction? 

"Predominance of inclination exists somewhere in some 
tangible form, but we do not seem to be able to find it under 
our present system. That we will is conclusive, Ijut we must 
do so quickly, in order to offset the growing increase of food- 
stuffs." 



The trap-nest identifies and gives you the number of eggs 
a hen lays and is absolutely necessary if we wish to line-breed 
or raise pedigreed stock. The writer has studied Mendelism 
since the spring of 1910, as he has numerous other scientific 
works, in the endeavor to find something that would be of aid 
in getting out this work. I must confess that the title, "The 
Call of the Hen," was suggested while on a visit with Comrade 
Jack London, and that is all I have been al)lo to find that has 
aided me in this case. Mendelism may Ije found an aid along 
the line of feathers, but I doul^t if there is anything in it that 
will aid the poultryman in the selection of breeders for type, 
stamina, and the production of eggs or meat. It may be that, 
having eyes, I fail to see it. Even if there should be anything 
of value in Mendelism, it would take two or more years to get 
it out, while "The Hogan Test" indicates tlie value of a bird 
in a few minutes, at most. It looks to me as if the poultrymen 
will have to look at the trap-nest and "The Hogan Test" to 
develop and maintain the high-scoring meat- and egg-producing 
hen. The best pullets can be selected at maturity by "The 
Hogan Test" and then trai)-nested when the poultryman is 
breeding pedigreed stock; while the culled pullets, lacking in 
prepotency and other points, can be kept as market-egg pro- 
ducers. In this way it will be neecessary to trap-nest only the 
cream of the flock, and thereby save an immense amount of 
labor. The cockerels can also be selected at three months of 
age and the most promising saved from slaughter. By this 
method poultry-breeding will be reduced to a science and be- 
come a pleasure, where now it is a brain-racking proposition. 



Il6 THE CALL OF THE HEN. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 



"How Can I Tell a Laying Hen?" 

I am asked this question very often, and in reply would say 
that from a scientific point of view it is impossible to tell the 
laying hen except with the X-ray. When I say this I do not 
mean that you cannot tell in the vast majority of cases, but 
there are occasionally hens whose formation is such that no 
known method will tell you whether she is a laying hen or not. 
I give in the last chapter my original "System" and the later 
supplement, which caused a great many questions to be asked, 
which I trust have been satisfactorily answered in this book. 

I was at a place in San Francisco lately where this subject 
was brought up. There was a small party present, all of whom 
had my "System." One of the party worked in a large meat- 
market, where they bought and dressed live poultry. He said 
that occasionally he dressed a hen that showed no indications 
of being a laying hen, but upon being opened an egg would be 
found in her. I told him the hens that he had described were 
those that laid a very few eggs and laid them only in the 
spring. Their pelvic bones expanded only while the hen was 
being delivered of the egg. This hen has practically but one 
egg under process of development at a time, consequently her 
abdomen does not have to expand to make room for only one 
egg. Whereas the hen that lays 150 eggs per year has a number 
of eggs developing at the same time, and her abdomen expands 
in proportion to her needs. The 200-egg hen has a still larger 
number of eggs developing and she requires more room for 
them, hence her abdomen expands in proportion. The 250-egg 
hen has a still larger number of eggs of all sizes developing, and 
her abdomen expands still wider than the 200-egg hen. When 
the hen's abdomen expands, her pelvic bones, beiDg literally 
a part of and continuation of her abdomen, must expand and 
contract with it. When she is through laying for the season 
her abdomen contracts, and the pelvic bones must come closer 
together, which they do, although there are exceptions to this 
rule. We will take the 145-egg hen, for example, of the sanguine 
temperament. She will be four fingers abdomen and ^-inch 
pelvic bone, when in normal condition, with pelvic bones of good 
shape. We draw our hand along her breast-bone (keel) from 



THE CALL OF THE HEN. 1 17 

front to rear, and find her abdomen does not drop down the 
least bit below the rear of the breast-bone. This hen we might 
call a "normal hen. ' ' Her pelvic bones will, in all probability, 
expand and contract in conformance with her condition of lay- 
ing. If si .3 is in the flush of laying, her pelvic bones may be 
about 1% inches apart; later in the season, when she is not 
laying so frequently, her pelvic bones may close to about Ij^ 
inches; and when she stops laying for the season her pelvic 
bones may close to about 1^ inches. This will very likely 
be repeated each year. 

Now we will select a hen of the 250-egg type. We draw 
our hand along her keel, as with the last hen; we find she is all 
right, closely built and firm. We drop her and take another 
250-egg type hen. The performance of drawing the hand along 
the keel is for the purpose of picking out the future breeders 
that may later bag down, indicating weak ovaries. In this 
connection I wish to say that in selecting Ijreeders I found that 
the best way to eliminate the hens that would begin to bag 
down behind was to follow directions as given below. Of late 
years I have not had this trou])le to contend with. It is always 
the heavy layer that breaks down, which indicates weak ovaries, 
and we do not want to breed from such. 

In drawing our hand along her keel (breast-bone) we find a 
slight bagging down in the rear. The abdomen seems to drop 
below the rear of the breast-bone slightly. We will say this 
is a pullet, perhaps six or eight months old. She is well de- 
veloped, and you can call her one of your best hens. You are 
proud of her, and have decided to set every egg she lays. Do 
not use her as a breeder. This pullet should be put in a yard 
with others of her formation after she is sixteen months old and 
trap-nested. She may stop laying any time and never lay 
another egg, or she may continue to lay another year or so ; in 
any case, she has been such a continuous layer that her frame 
has become set to that form, and her pelvic bones, as it were, set 
and will contract very little; they will indicate that she is 
laying, when in fact she may not have laid for years. I have 
kept such hens until they were 6 years old, and some of them 
have never laid an egg after they were about 16 months, still 
others after they were 2 years old. This is where a trap-nest 
will save you money. When you select your hens by Charts 
44 and 45 at 16, 28, and 40 months of age, the ones that bag 
down the least bit should be put in a yard by themselves and 



Il8 THE CALL OF THE HEN. 

trap-nested to discover the ones whose ovaries have l^roken 
down and will lay no more. This is not difficult to discover, as 
the hen that is over the 205-egg type lays more or less at all 
times during the first two years of her life, if not stimulated to 
over-production her first year. "A little learning is a dan- 
gerous thing," is an old saying applicable to this case. When a 
man says, "Don't kill that laying hen," he should furnish 
you with an X-ray outfit that will enable you to comply with 
his request. 

The writer has used the pelvic-bone proi)osition for over 
forty years in selecting the laying hen, and has found the fol- 
lowing to be a very good method in selecting the hen that is 
not laying: 

The hen that scores 130 eggs her first lajdng year would 
measure about % of an inch between her pelvic bones after 
she stops laying for the season. The hen that scores 150 eggs 
her first laying year would measure about 1 inch between her 
pelvic bones after she stops laying for the season. The hen 
that scores 200 eggs would measure about 1}4 inches between 
the pelvic bones after she stops laying for the season. The hen 
that scores 250 eggs would measure about 13^2 inches between 
the pelvic bones after she stops laying for the season. The 
250-egg hen does stop more or less after her second and some- 
times after her first season, if not cared for right; but if feed 
and environment are right, she may continue to lay more or less 
until 3 years old, when her frame may become set. When 
she is done laying her pelvic bones may remain 2 inches apart. 
As hens grow older their pelvic bones become thicker during the 
winter months when they are not laying. The thickness varies 
according to their type, the typical egg type changing little or 
none, while the more pronounced the meat type becomes the 
more the pelvic bones change, owing to the increase or decrease 
of flesh on the abdomen (flank) of the fowl as it takes on or 
loses flesh, as indicated by her breast-bone. 



THE CALL OF THE HEN. IIQ 



CHAPTER XIX. 



Final Remarks on Constitutional Vigor and Vitality. 

As we have now reached the end of "The Call of the Hen," 
I wish to impress upon the reader's mind the importance of the 
five propositions that govern the Selection, Breeding, and 
Profitable Keeping of Poultry as follows : Capacity, Condition, 
Type, Prepotency, and Vitality or Constitutional Vigor. 

No doubt you have a good working knowledge of the 
first four sul)jects, and j^ou wonder why I have not written a 
chapter on Vitality. The reason is, that when I decided to 
write "The Call of the Hen," I told my wife that I would write 
nothing that even a blind man could not understand and 
practice. I have tried to do so, for to her patience, perse- 
verance, and untiring zeal I owe much of the success I have had 
in getting out this book. 

The writer can see only three ways of detecting vitality 
in a fowl; the most ancient is intuition, then observation, and 
lastly the trap-nest. A hen may be a typical 250-egg type hen, 
she may have the very best of care and food, and yet, for lack 
of vitality, may not be able to lay over 150 eggs per year. Let 
us take the stenm engine for example. There are a great many 
types of engines l)(>sides the high- and low-pressure ones, as 
ther(> are a great many ty})es of hen and cock birds. The 
tliameter of cvlindcr, length of stroke, and revolutions per 
minute give you the capacity of the engine, as the length and 
de])th of abdomen in the fowl gives its capacity. The fuel fed 
into the fire-box generates the steam (vitality) to run the engine, 
as the food fed into the hen's abdomen generates her vitality. 

The writer has owned steam engines where there was de- 
fective fire-box construction — scale in the boiler and tubes, 
loose rings in the piston head, cylinder worn out of true, and 
other defects that reduced the efficiency of the power system 
a great deal — or, in other words, lowered the vitality of the 
engine. In just the same way a weak digestive system in a 
250-egg type hen will reduce her egg-yield. But do not think 
that you can make a 150-egg type hen in perfect condition lay 
200 eggs by any of the feeding formulas now in vogue. If you 
try to force her, she will go to fiesh and then break down with 
liver trouble. 



I20 THE CALL OF THE HEN. 

If you lack the intuitive faculty and lack the time to care- 
fully observe individual hens, I would advise you to select 
the hens by the chart you wish to breed from. When they 
are about a year old you can breed from them. Then, if you 
wish to breed from only those with the greatest vitality, trap- 
nest these hens for the next two or three years. The hens with 
the greatest vitality will be great layers and strong, vigorous 
birds, and save the time wasted in trap-nesting a lot of birds 
that you will eventually have to discard. 



CHAPTER XX. 



Walter Hogan's System. 

This chapter contains "Walter Hogan's System," as 
written by M. F. Greeley, editor of the Dakota Farmer, to 
whom I gave the notes. This was published in 1904. At that 
time Mr. Greeley refused to put in anything about the skull 
theory. He said that I would make myself the laughing-stock 
of the world. I am merely putting this old work in this book 
in order that the reader maj'^ know the evolution of the dis- 
covery. The pelvic-bone method of selection was, of course, 
my first discovery ; then later, the relation between depth of 
abdomen and thickness of pelvic bones; after that, the working 
out of the mathematical relation between egg-laying ability 
and those points before mentioned. 

When I came to California I gave out merely the "Walter 
Hogan's System" which had been printed in Minnesota; later 
I published a "Supplement," which gave a general idea of the 
capacity and type proposition; still later I issued typewritten 
charts as they are found in this book. I could have done all 
of this many years ago, but my reasons for not doing it are ex- 
plained elsewhere. 

I do not desire any of my readers to make the mistake of 
considering what comes after this as having anything to do 
with "The Call of the Hen," except in a historical way. 

Walter Hogan. 

Petaluma, Calif., July 31, 1913. 



THE CALL OF THE HEN. 



121 



WALTER HOGAN'S SYSTEM 




Walter Hogan, 
The Originator of the Walter Hogan System. 

There are two ways of selection, described in this document. 

When hens are in flush of laying, selection by the pelvic 
bones alone is the easier way; but when not in flush of laying, 
the pelvic bones together with the abdomen will be found the 
most ready way. (See Supplement, next page.) 

Please bear in mind that the hen with thin pelvic bones and 
large, soft abdomen is the heavy egg-lying type. 

The hen with thick pelvic bones and large, fleshy, fatty 
abdomen is the large beef type. 

The hen with medium-thick pelvic bones and large, medium- 
fleshy and medium-fatty abdomen is the dual-purpose type, 
and can be made to lay fairly well or made to produce flesh, 
it being a matter of how she is fed. 

The hen with small abdomen is of small account, either as 
an egg or as a meat proposition, as she lacks the abdominal 
capacity to digest and assimilate food enough to sustain the 
every-daj'^ wear of her system and at the same time to produce 
eggs or flesh in paying quantities. 



122 THE CALL OF THE HEN. 

Everything related here appHes to the male bird as well, 
only in a lesser degree. 

The remarks in regard to pullets refer to mature pullets, 
as Leghorn pullets are at five months old in the New England 
States. 

My birds in Massachusetts were l)red for eggs onlj^ for 
years, and their type became set and their pelvic bones con- 
tracted, when not laying, to average about 25 per cent; but I 
find that hens bred promiscuously contract about 50 per cent. 

The points to be borne in mind in using this System are: 

That selection by the pelvic bones alone is best made in the 
flush of laying. 

That thin pelvic bones and soft abdomen indicate the 
egg type. 

That thick pelvic bones and hard, fleshy, fatty abdomen 
indicate the beef type. 

The size of the abdomen indicates the capacity of the bird, 
either as an egg or as a meat proposition, as the case may be — 
large abdomen, large capacity; small abdomen, small capacity. 

The same rules apply to the cockerel, cock, male bird, or 
rooster, as he may be called. 

In order to determine the capacity of a hen for egg-production 
by one selection, she should be in normal condition and not 
more than a few days broody. 

The estimates in this document refer to hens about one 
year old. As a rule, they will lay less each year as they grow 
older — how much less depends on the vitality of the hen, other 
things considered. 

Supplement to Walter Hogan's System. 

If you will get a little 1-foot rule to check yourself up while 
getting used to measuring with the tips of your fingers, as in 
Fig. 4, you will have no trouble in applying its principles right. 
You can hold the bird feet up and head down between your 
knees while you are measuring; then hold as in Fig. 4 and 
learn to estimate the witlth right. Anything under 1 inch will 
not pay, all over 1^2 inches will pay; from 1 to 1^^ inches are 
doubtful ; 2 inches is about the 200-egg type, 2^ inches about 
the 250-egg type, and 2^4: inches about the 280-egg type. 

Hens measuring from 1 to 1% inches should be put in a 
yard while being fed well and looked over once a week at 



THK CALL OF THE IIEN. 1 23 

night ill tiic chirk for about eight weeks, if you wish to make a 
careful test. Any that come up or down in measurement can 
be put in the good or bad yards, as the case may be. Hens will 
go up or down al)out 25 per cent in measurements as they are 
in flush of laying or not. The best time to examine hens is 
after dark while on roost, which should be al)()ut 18 inches from 
the floor; Place left hand on back of hen, lift up tail with 
thumb of right hand, and api:)ly tips of fingers to pelvic bones. 
With a little practice you will be able to inspect thirty per 
minute. It is admitted by all physicians, professors, and stu- 
dents of physiology that I have talked with in regard to this 
matter that the abdominal capacity of a hen, together with a 
strong vital temperament, has everything to do with her value 
as a laying jiroposition. The pelvic bones (being a continua- 
tion of the l)ody structure of the fowl and subject to very small 
changes in the formation of flesh) are, when comparatively 
straight and thin, an index to the width of the abdomen, and 
the best if not the only one we have, as they protrude from 
the body and may l)e easily measured. The depth of the ab- 
domen can be taken by placing the palm of the hand crosswise 
below, between the pelvic bones and the rear of the l)reast- 
bone. Sometimes it will be 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6 fingers. (A finger 
means ^ of an inch.) Also place fingers between pelvic bones 
and tail-bone. Sometimes it will take one, sometimes two 
fingers. In this way you can judge the size of the abdomen, 
which, with the pelvic development, will be a rule as to a hen's 
value as a layer, except in rare cases of misplaced or diseased 
organs. Sometimes a hen will have a large abdomen, but her 
pelvic bones will grow crooked and come almost together, like 
the horns of a Jersey cow, and she will lay better than the dis- 
tance apart of her pelvic bones will indicate, but never will do 
as well as she should, and should not be bred from. She wastes 
too much nervous force in laying. The farther you get away 
from the crow formation the better your hens will be. 

As a rule, fowls are almost twice as long coming to maturity 
in California as they are in the Eastern and Middle Western 
States. What the reason is I suspect, but do not know, but 
will find out in the next two years. 

No document purporting to be a copy of "Water Hogan's 
System" is genuine without my signature as is set hereunder: 

Wishing you the best of success, I am, sincerely yours, 



124 the call of the hen. 

The Walter Hogan System of Increasing Egg-Production 
BY Selection and Breeding. 

It has been estimated that to add one-half dozen eggs to 
the annual producing capacity of every hen in the United 
States would result in additional returns from our poultry 
sufficient to pay the national debt within less than a year. Al- 
lowing this to be true, we are prepared to show that the method 
of selection and breeding herein outlined is capable of paying 
off our great debt several times during a single year, without 
having to increase the number of hens kept a single bird or the 
cost of keeping them a single dollar. 

The method — or "discovery," we might call it — has been 
tested by the writer in every conceivable way, regardless of 
expense, time, or trouble, and has been found absolutely fault- 
less in every particular. It has been submitted to one Govern- 
ment Experiment Station (as will be shown later) with the 
same unerring results, and also to a number iof the foremost 
poultrymen of America, who fully and without exception 
corroborate all that is claimed. 

This, you will agree with us, means a revolution in econom- 
ical egg-production; it means, too, that no poultryman, how- 
ever small his flock, can afford to go on in the old way a single 
year longer. 

Every animal on the farm has a well-defined mission all 
its own, outside of the general one of producing meat. The 
great mission of the cow is to produce milk ; of the sheep, wool ; 
and the mission of the hen is evidently and pre-eminently egg- 
production. This being the case, her value varies or should 
vary largely with her ability to produce eggs. And still it is a 
well-known fact that, while every farm animal has been se- 
lected and bred for the best there was in it along its own 
peculiar line, and all prizes have been awarded accordingly, 
the hen has been bred largely and prizes awarded her almost 
wholly for feather and markings, the judges seldom or never 
deeming it important to know whether she was capable of 
laying at all or not. 

The writer was amazed to find this state of things when, 
some years ago, he turned his attention from managing woolen- 
mill interests to trying to manage a poultry-yard. But, in 
spite of the fact that he was whollyjunable to find bird or strain 
that were known to be exceptional egg-producers, he sue- 



THE CALL OF THE HEN. 



125 



ceeded, within six years after starting, in building up a flock 
that averaged annually considerably over 200 eggs per hen. 

Before deciding to publish this work, I found, after diligent 
inquiry among the leading poultrymen of the United States 
and Canada, and some correspondence reaching to other coun- 
tries, that there was no known method — other than the slow 
and costly one of trap-nesting — of selecting birds of great egg- 
producing capacity. Trap-nesting, in addition to the faults 
mentioned, which makes it almost impracticable for the farmer, 
had a still more serious one in the writer's judgment; it could 
not trap-nest roosters, which I have found to be more than 
"half the flock." For this seemingly insurmountable diffi- 
culty I have found an easy solution, and can as readily identify 
the male as the female, and as unerringly. 

The facts of which this document treat are a discovery, a 
method, and a development all in one. The happy inspiration 
and discovery came within a few hours; but it has reached this 
workable and al)solutely reliable form by a costly analytical 




Cut No. 1 — A Leghorn hen showing this development has the egg- 
laying instinct at its maximum. 



126 



THE CALL OF THE HEN. 



and experimental process extending through years. After the 
underlying principle had been found, it had to be tested and 
proved to my own satisfaction. Then the various objections 
and criticisms, which will occur to many readers, had to he 
answered or met by actual practical experiences. 
The method enables one: 

1. To easily and without error weed out all the worthless 
birds from a flock; those that do not lay at all, also those that 
lay so little that it is a loss to keep them. This alone means 
millions to this country. 

2. To separate just as unerringly all pullets before they 
begin to lay ; indicating the coming great layers, the fair layers, 
the very poor, and the barren. The latter will be found in 
nearly all flocks. 

3. To tell those not liable to lay when disposing of old or 
other hens for the table or market or for other reasons. 

Beginning my investigation, as I was compelled to, Avith 
birds selected wholly without egg-record, I was soon greatlj- 
impressed with the dissimilarity of formation of the pelvic 




Cut No. 2 — This is a hen of medium development. She is a fair layer. 



THE CALL OF THE HEN. 



127 



bones and surrounding portions of the body, particularly of the 
former. Some I found nearly closed up, hard, and unyielding; 
others barely admitting one finger between these points; while 
a very few would easilly admit the ends of three fingers l^etween 
the tips of the pelvic bones, and these were generally thin, 
tapering, and elastic. With this clue, I was not long in finding 
that my great layers were the latter and my barren and nearly 
barren ones the first mentioned. My attention was next 
forcibly called to this by seeing a long row of dressed pullets 
and hens in a l)utchering establishment. Noticing the great dif- 
ference in the formation, I secured the privilege of numbering 
the hens and liaving the entrails, as they were removed, left by 
the side of each bird. In every instance I found my suspicion 
verified; the indications of large numbers of eggs and ample 
machinery to go with them, with the Made, pliable pelvic bones; 
and just the o]iposite condition with the narrow ones, the very 
least, or no egg indications whatever, with tiie bones very close 




Cut No. 3 — Hens with this development are of little or no value 
as layers. 



128 THE CALL OF THE HEN. 

together at the points and unyielding to pressure, hard, thick, 
and rounded in. This experiment was tried again and again, 
with different breeds, but never with different results. 

I was satisfied I was on the right trail now, and determined 
to spare neither time nor money to make sure I was right. For 
several years following these discoveries I spent much time and 
money visiting well-known poultrymen and others, frequently 
paying as high as $10.00 for best known layers, only to kill 
them to prove or disprove my conclusions — to photograph the 
live bird, next her dressed body, then her skeleton. In every 
instance I found my theory corrert. I divided my own flock 
according to my findings into three flocks, and the very first 
day's lay proved my theory beyond question, so far as one day 
could. I then divided other and many flocks; but wherever 
they were and whatever breed, without an exception the same 
result followed. 




Cut No. 4 — Showing a convenient method of holding fowls when 
testing them. 

Skipping a number of years, I might say right here that in 
1904 I divided the flock of Leghorns, Wyandottes, and Ply- 
mouth Rocks at the Minnesota Experiment Station at Crooks- 
ton into three pens: first, the best; second, medium to poor; 
third, very poor or barren. I was about twenty-five minutes 
doing this in the presence of C. S. Greene, at that time the 



THE CALL OF THE HEN. 1 29 

manager, whom nearly all the leading poultrymen know, and 
Mr. T. A. Hoverstad, then superintendent of the station. 
These gentlemen then had absolutely no faith in the method! 
not knowing anything about it; but were assured l)y me that if 
the barren pen laid an egg or either of the others failed to per- 
form as I indicated, they were at liberty to publish the method 
and me to the world as a fraud. The first day showed pen No. 
1, 45 eggs; pen No. 2, 20 eggs; pen No. 3, no eggs; and this 
continued, with slight variations, the entire period of the ex- 
periment, which lasted for weeks; though not a single egg ap- 
peared in the barren pen. The per cent of eggs to the 100 hens 
for the entire time was: First pen, 60 per cent per clay; second 
pen, 37 per cent; third pen, nothing. But for lack of room I 
might give many more experiments and tests fully as startling 
as the above. 

But to go on: Within a few years after selecting my first 
layers in this way, I had a flock the larger part of which was 
laying 200 eggs and above per year, individual layers greatly 
exceeding this. 

Then came another discovery, fully as important as the 
first. I noticed that, though I hatched all my pullets from the 
best layers' eggs, some of them were exceedingly poor layers; 
now and then one of them barren. I studied upon this for a 
long time, spent more money, and killed many more birds. 
Then with another idea, which as suddenly as the first dawned 
upon me, I made for the slaughter-house once more. I soon 
had a row of forty or so dressed male birds this time laid out 
before me; and then at a glance I saw my long-sought solution. 
There was the same great difference in the pelvic formation 
found in the hens. I examined my roosters to find that half of 
them were absolutely worthless. Why do I say that the rooster 
"is MORE than half the flock?" Because later I found, as 
many know, that the female offspring take largely after the 
father and the male offspring after the mother. It is so with 
all animals, and almost always so in the human family. Had 
I used males of my own raising, I should have done better, but 
I had not. By the way, I found two high-priced and "high- 
scoring" birds used at the Crookston Station in 1904 abso- 
lutely without value, and Mr. Greene now agrees with me fully 
that they were, although he was at the time quite indignant 
when I pronounced his costly beauties worthless. 

I may say here that, while I found one very good exhibi- 
tion bird in this experiment station flock that was wholly 
worthless as a layer, I am pleased indeed to be able to state 
that one bird which had taken several prizes for markings, etc., 
I found to be a priceless layer. I never saw but one bird that 
came anywhere near being that hen's equal. I found one, how- 
ever, with very poor markings that outranked any hen but her. 

From this time on breeding hastened matters fully as 
much as selection, and I soon had — or rather, to be accurate, 



130 THE CALL OF THE HEN. 

at the end of six years from my first start I had a FLOCK 
AVERAGING CLOSE AROUND 250 EGGS EACH PER 
YEAR; A FLOCK PAYING ME MORE THAN DOUBLE 
THE PROFIT MY FIRST FLOCK COULD. Dm'ing the 
last few years of this period I again and again, for experi- 
mental purposes, mated excellent hens with narrow-pelvic- 
boned males, and every time a crop of pullets that varied 
greatly in egg-yield was the result. Again and again I bred 
wide-pelvic-boned males with narrow-boned females with the 
same results. But wide-pelvic-boned males with hens of the 
same formation (with the exception now and then at far-apart 
intervals, a freak) l)rought excellent layers. Occasionally a 
male bird failed to transmit well, but this I afterwards found 
was only when it was wholly lacking in masculine qualities, as 
denoted by the width and depth of head and back of neck, 
with other indications common to masculinity in all other 
animals. From this time I began mating wide-pelvic-boned 
males with my widest hens and a marked increase in the 
number of great layers was evident — in fact, the third year it 
was the great exception to find anything but first-class layers 
among the pullets. 

Its Advantages. 

The advantages of this method for one owning even a 
small flock of birds are so apparent that space need not be 
given to discuss it. To one having a large flock it means, must 
mean, a small fortune in additional profit, with no more labor 
or investment; to those engaged in selling eggs for hatching 
it is bound to mean everything in the near future. It would be 
simply suicidal for a farmer, or anyone depending upon the 
eggs of his flock for the profit, to be so unbusinesslike as to 
buy eggs for hatching from untested flocks. We do not be- 
lieve it would be possible to find one who would do so, after 
knowing from experiment stations and otherwise that the 
method is unfailing. 

Some of the advantages over trap-nesting have been 
stated; perhaps the strongest being that we cannot trap-nest 
roosters. In addition, I might call attention to the fact that 
trap-nesting a single bird must extend over the entire year to 
be at all accurate, and would take many times the amount of 
time it would require — by this method — to settle the laying 
possibilities of a thousand pullets. A little more time would 
settle the laying powers of a large mixed flock at mixed laying 
seasons, which might require two or at least three examinations 
a week or ten days apart. 

Again, a worthless pullet can be found when she is from 
five to six months old and fatted and sold without having to 
keep her a full year in order to do it safely. Besides, handling 
hens almost always tends to disturb and discourage laying. 
Trap-nesting will, if persistently followed the entire year, give 



THE CALL OF THE HEN. 13I 

nearly the exact individual record, which is not material to one 
egg man in a thousand. It cannot be exact, however, as a 
shut-in and otherwise disturbed hen never does her best. 

This method applies to other birds as well — turkeys, for 
instance. Last fall I bought two turkeys for experiment; one 
was SMALL, with LARGE egg-development; the other 
LARGE, with SMALL egg-development. The small bird has 
laid and hatched out two litters of fourteen each the present 
season, and has at this date laid twenty-three eggs towards a 
third litter. The large one laid and hatched fourteen eggs 
early in the season, and has shown no signs of laying since, l)ut 
has taken on much more flesh than the laying turkey. This 
would, in addition to indicating laying turkeys, also show what 
to breed if large birds onl}^ are desired — as would nearly always 
be the case with turkeys. 

The absolute surety of never killing a bird for market or 
home consumption that is laying, about to begin laying, or is 
liable to lay in the near future, is another decided advantage 
over the trap-nest, and one of the quickest available advantages 
fo the system. 

Again, the process requires no investment in patent nests, 
leg-bands, or other fixings, which amount, in trap-nesting, to 
many times the first and only cost of this method. For ac- 
curacy in all the advantages claimed for this method, we will 
most gladly submit to a test with the greatest expert trap-nester 
that can be selected, if it can be so arranged that some high 
authority in poultry matters or some Government Experiment 
Station shall have charge of it. This unconditional offer we 
make to the world. 

How TO Select. 

As the basic principle of this method of identifying capacity 
for egg-production is the width and relative condition of the 
pelvic bones and surrounding construction, it is obvious that 
exact measurements cannot be given, unless a distinct breed 
be designated. A Cochin lays a large egg, and is built ac- 
cordingly; a Bantam lays a small egg, and its pelvic devel- 
opment in inches is corres]iondingly smaller. It would be 
manifestly misleading to apply the same measurements to the 
two birds. 

While the ability to make this allowance will come to the 
operator quickly — almost intuitively after a very short ex- 
perience — I have thought best to confine all my descriptions 
and measurements here to one breed of fowls only, the Leg- 
horns, these being a medium-sized, representative bird, well 
scattered over the entire country. It will be easy from the 
measurements to work up or down, as the birds on hand may 
be larger or smaller. It is all a matter of comparison, and, all 
things being equal, the bird with the widest and most pliable 
pelvic bones will ])e the greatest layer, while the one with very 



132 THE CALL OF THE HEN. 

narrow contracted pelvic formation will lay little, if at all. 
Behind the pelvic bones lies the egg machinery, and it will be 
found more abundant and roomy the wider the bones. 

Selecting Pullets. 
(Leghorns.) 

Perhap." the best time to select layers for a flock is when 
the pullets are from four to six months old. If all are in a 
uniformly thrifty condition at this time, it is next to impossible 
to make a mistake. The best pullets at that age should show 
a width of about 2 inches, while the best matured laying hens 
should show a development of about 2}/s inches. (See cut 
No. 1.) 

Pullets of Plymouth Rocks and their class sliould be se- 
lected about a month later and then show slightly larger, about 
23/8 inches. The best Asiatic pullet, about 23^ inches at seven 
or eight months old; the Leghorns being earlier maturers. 
At the end of six years of careful selecting and breeding I found 
my Leghorn pullets quite as wide and well matured at four 
months as my first ones were at five months. 

Second-class Leghorn pullets from five to seven months old 
will show a development of about 1% inches. (See cut No. 2.) 

At six months old all Leghorn pullets showing only 1 inch 
or less pelvic development should be discarded, regardless of 
feather or comb. They will never make layers. (See cut 
No. 3.) 

All things being equal, the earlier a pullet begins to lay the 
better and longer will she lay. 

Selecting Mature Layers. 

The next best time to ascertain a hen's laying qualities 
is when the whole flock is in the flush of laying — in other words, 
when about all are at work. Those found then to measure 
about 2}/g inches are extremely good layers. Some flocks have 
very few of these priceless birds in them, while others have 
good numbers. From this class of layers, and above that 
measurement, and from these only, should eggs be saved 
for hatching. 

Occasionally hens are found measuring as high as 2^ 
inches; these hens, with the best of care, will lay as high as 280 
eggs per year; those measuring about 2^^ inches may be de- 
pended upon to go as high as 250. The fact that this kind of 
hen can be found is ample proof that with proper selection 
they can be bred in large numbers. 

Hens found at this time measuring from IJ^ to 2 inches are 
real good layers, and should not be discarded, if one wishes to 
build up a large flock, but they should not be bred from. 
Hens in the flush of laying measuring only 1}4 to 13^^ inches 
are poor, and those showing from an inch down should be dis- 
carded, regardless of shape or color. 



THE CALL OF THE HEN. 1 33 

A large enough flock of the first-mentioned hens would 
make any poor man rich; the second kind would keep them- 
selves and their owners going; while many of the last-named 
class would make a rich man poor. 

Poor layers, kept well and fed a large variety of scraps 
and other foods, will sometimes make prettj^ fair egg records 
for a short time, and birds of the best quality, under exception- 
ally hard conditions, will make poor records. There are also 
occasional freaks in both extremes of measurements, but they 
are so infrequent as not to be at all important. Approximately, 
280-egg hens that measure as high as 2^ inches in the flush of 
laying will show about ^g to 1/2 inch less when not laying, and 
this shrinkage in measurement will apply to all other grades in 
about this proportion. 

Selecting for Fall Marketing. 

We do not like to kill birds about to begin laying, that 
are laying, or really good ones that are just through laying, 
particularly when there are plenty in the flock that do not 
come under any of these heads. 

In this alone the cost of this method, when once well under- 
stood, can be saved several times in a single season with a 
good-sized flock of birds. 

While the exceptionally-good layers can be told readily 
and at almost any time, laying or not, and an al^solutely worth- 
less bird can be told the same way, there is a time, just when 
the real good layer is resting and the common to poor layer 
is doing her best, when they come — for a short time only— close 
together in pelvic appearance. 

While it is not safe to kill a bird that measures l^/g inches 
or over, it is possible for a very fair layer to not be much wider 
than that at the close of laying out her litter. Some good 
layers, that in the flush of laying will measure 1^ to 2 inches, 
at the close of their laying period will sometimes close up to 
about 13^ inches. A very poor layer in the flush of her laying 
time might be 1}4 to Ij^g inches, so care must l^e taken at this 
period not to confound the two conditions, which do not exist 
at any other time. This is referred to in the Introduction. 
To wholly prevent this— when it is desired to save every at all 
good layer — it is well to make two or possibly three examina- 
tions, a week or so apart. In this way there will be no danger 
of confounding the one about to begin laying with the one 
about to quit, and the poor layer can be told from the good one. 

When kilUng a whole flock at two or three years old, as 
many do, no hen measuring 1}/^ inches and under is worth 
keeping; particularly is this true if th? birds have been well fed 
and stimulated to about their full capacity. No hen of any 
value for egg-production will have an egg in her at this time 
and measure so small unless she is a slow, infrequent layer at 



134 THE CALL OF THE HEN. 

her best. Sometimes this kind of a hen with very small meas- 
urements will be found laying an occasional egg late in the 
season. 

Selecting Roosters. 

We have said how important it is to have males of the 
right formation to mate with the great layers for breeding 
purposes; we need not emphasize this; it is so evident that 
we cannot trap-nest a rooster, and equally so that years of 
trap-nesting hens can be ruinously upset in a day by crossing 
with an inferior male, that it would reflect upon our estimation 
of the reader's intelligence to say more about it. 

I have found Leghorn roosters that measured 1% inches, 
but they are rare and priceless. A good matured bird should 
measure 13^ inches and a pretty fair one 1 inch. I would not 
use one that measured less, if I could possibly help it. Many 
fine-looking birds measure only 3^ inch, but such ones wdll ruin 
the offspring of the best layers and should be discarded, what- 
ever their qualities in feather, tip of comb, or anything else. 

Now and then the objection reaches us that the high-type 
roosters referred to cannot be found. I have found them, as 
others have, and I believe there are nearly or quite as many in 
proportion as there are of the 250 and above hens; but we do 
not save all the roosters as we do all the pullets, and they are 
correspondingly scarce among mature inales. By selecting 
always from large numbers of males before they are killed off 
this objection will be largely and quickly overcome. 

The fact that males of this class can be selected is of it- 
self a discovery sufficient to revolutionize the whole poultry 
business without the examination of a single hen — were time 
enough taken; but the two together bring absolute and imme- 
diate results. 

In the hands of a slightly experienced or an at all competent 
person the element of chance is entirely removed by this method 
of selecting layers and males; and one is just as sure of the 
results sought as that a hen will die if her head is cut off. 

We ask but one thing: that judgment be withheld till this 
method be tried. If the tests are fairly conducted, there can be 
no failure. 

Crude infringements and imitations of this discovery and 
System — as of everything else of value that has cost years of 
investigating and experimenting — are liable to spring up, but 
the safety and economy of going direct to the fountain-head 
need scarcely be suggested. 

Dated November 20, 1904. 

the end. 



THE CALL OF THE HEN. 135 

QUESTIONS. 



SELECTION AND BREEDING FOR EGG- 
PRODUCTION. 



"The Call of the Hen." 

1. What four things influence egg-production or largely 
determine the number of eggs a hen will lay? 

2. What is "capacity"? 

3. How is it measured or determined? 

4. What w^ould a one-hnger "capacity" or depth of abdo- 
men indicate? 

5. What wotild a three to five-finger "capacity" or abdo- 
men indicate ? 

6. W''hat is meant by "condition"? 

7. What portion of the body is a good indicator as to 
whether the hen is in good "condition" or poor "condition"? 

8. What outside factors or environments are largely re- 
sponsible for the "condition" of any hen? 

9. Is "condition" a thing that the common sense or gump- 
tion of the poultryman can control largely? How? 

10. How does the breast of the hen appear when she is 
in good "condition"? 

11. The first joint of the forefinger is divided into how 
many parts for the purpose of determining "condition" or rep- 
resents how many fingers out of "condition"? 

12. If a hen has a one-finger abdomen or "capacity" and 
is three fingers out of "condition," about how many fingers ab- 
domen or "capacity" would she have if this same hen was in 
"condition", or in other words, each finger out of "condition" 
means how many more fingers "capacity" or depth of abdomen 
if the same hen was in normal "condition"? 

13. A hen which is tw^o-fingers out of "condition" indi- 
cates that the hen has shrunken or lost how many fingers in 
"capacity" or depth of abdomen? 

14. If a hen is three fingers out of "condition," should 
she ever be used again as a breeder? 



136 THE CALL OF THE HEN. 

15. What is meant by "type" in this lesson in selecting 
hens for egg-production ? 

16. What is meant by "egg type"? 

17. What is meant by "dual purpose type"? 

18. What is meant by "beef type"? 

19. How do 3'ou determine each of the abova three types? 

20. Do we find practically the same differences in the 
"types" of male birds as in females? 

21. What difference is made in the use of food consumed 
by the "egg type" and the "beef type"? 

22. If you had a flock of hens of the "beef type," how 
should they be fed as regards to quantity so as to get the largest 
possible egg yield and prevent them from becoming too fat? 

23. Do we find all three "types" in all varieties of poul- 
try, or are each of these "types" confined to certain varieties or 
breeds of poultry ? 

24. What does a pelvic Itone 1-16 of an inch in thickness 
indicate? 

25. What does a pelvic bone 3-8 of an inch in thickness 
indicate? 

26. A hen in good condition, with a two-finger abdomen 
or "capacity" and 1-4 inch pelvic bone, should lay about how 
many eggs during the first year? 

27. A hen in good condition, with a five-finger abdomen 
or "capacity" and a i-iO-inch pelvic bone, should lay about 
how many eggs the first year? 

2S. Should we breed from poultry with straight or 
crooked pelvic bones? Why? 

29. About what per cent less eggs will a hen with crooked 
pelvic bones, close together, lay than a hen of the same breed- 
ing with straight pelvic bones, farther apart? 

30. How can this defect be largely eliminated from a 
flock? 

31. Does a hen that has an abdomen bagging down over 
the rear of the breast-bone indicate a strong or a weak ovarian 
or reproductive system? 

32. Should they be used for breeders? W'hy? 



THE CALL OK THE HEN. 137 

33. What is meant by "prepotency" or "amativeness"? 

34. What does it indicate in judging males or teraales for 
"prepotency" as descriljed in this method, if the thumbt is i-8 
of an inch ahead of the forefinger? 

35. What does it indicate, if the thumb is 1-4 inch be- 
hind the forefinger? 

36. Which of the above two would make the best breeder 
in transmitting its good (jualities to its offspring? 

37. Some poultrymen mate females with a record of 150 
eggs each to males of the 150 egg type or males bred from hens 
with equally good records, and the offsring from such matings 
often lay only 100 or 125 eggs on the average in your opinion, 
Why this decrease in the number of eggs? 

38. How many eggs should a hen lay the first year to 
justify you in keeping her the second year as a breeder or as a 
layer ? 

39. In breeding for egg-production, would you prefer to 
breed from males that mature early and from females that lay 
early, or would you select the opposite kind? Why? 

40. Should you breed from the fall and winter layers, or 
should you select for breeders those that wait until spring to 
lay? Why? 

41. Should you breed from the active, alert birds, or the 
inactive, lazy ones ? Why ? 

42. Should you breed from those that are early to rise 
and late to retire, or from the opposite? W'hy? 

43. Should you breed from the heavy eaters or feeders, 
or from those that eat comparatively little? Why? 

44. Other things being equal, would you prefer to breed 
from a male bred from a high-laying hen, or from one bred 
from a medium layer? Why? 

45. \\'hat is meant by "stamina" and "vigor" in poultry? 

46. \\'hich has the most to do with determining the 
number of eggs a hen will lay, the breeding, the feeding, or the 
housing? \\'hy? 

47. A\ hat difference would there be in the probable 
number of eggs laid by a hen w'ith lots of "capacity," a six- 
finger abdomen, with a thick pelvic bone, one inch in thickness, 



138 THE CALL OF THE HEN. 

and a hen with but little "capacity," a two-finger abdomen, 
with a rather thin pelvic bone. 5-16 of an inch in thickness, 
both hens being in good condition? 

48. Everything else being equal, which moult first as a 
rule, the good layers or the poor layers? 

49. What, if anything, has the width or the distance 
between the pelvic bones, themselves, got to do with egg- 
prodviction? 

50. Do we feed hens for the purpose of feeding eggs into 
their bodies, or do we feed them to develop the eggs which 
selection and breeding or Nature has placed within the hen? 



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